Is IPv6 the future trend? What are the technical barriers to deploying IPv6?

Nobody's using IPv6? I'm sure there are many people who have heard something similar in conversations, and while it can be difficult to convince these people that more and more organizations are deploying IPv6, especially when the adoption rate has been so slow in the 20 years of existence so far, these instances at least give me a chance to get them thinking about the topic again and share the great work that's been done recently in this space.

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It’s encouraging to see that this work, and for all of us IPv6 fans, seems to be paying off, at least for our IPv6 conferences, where we’ve seen an increase in attendee numbers over the past few years. Here are some of the insights I’ve been giving at these conferences lately, and my tips for getting started with IPv6.

No shortcuts for IPv6

Many people in our conference are eager to deploy IPv6 but are struggling with the "everything is bigger" mentality. Ideally, they are looking for ways to make IPv6 easier to incorporate into current networks.

Unfortunately, there is no shortcut, or one-size-fits-all process to deploying IPv6, it takes time, effort, and upgrades. All of which inevitably require some capital expenditures, which leads many to the second barrier to deploying IPv6: management does not see the additional benefits of deploying IPv6.

What is the business case for IPv6?

In the eyes of management, IPv6 is an expensive upgrade to an un-cracked technology/protocol. Therefore, a standard question from audience members is “How do I make a business case to management?”. Again, all the business cases we could provide were none.

For example, if security is important in your organization, discuss with them how running a dual stack provides better visibility and fewer false positives than using Network Address Translation (NAT). If it's a question of money, explain to management the costs associated with continually upgrading NAT. If it's a question about sustainable network expansion, explain the issue of IPv4 exhaustion and the use of NAT (again) and/or acquiring and consolidating addresses from the transfer market.

Learn IPv6 basics now?

The following steps are a good start: It's not difficult, but some of the techniques you learned in the past, such as subnetting, you will have to unlearn. Investigate whether all devices and applications in the network are capable of running dual stack? If you recently refreshed your network, this shouldn't be a problem. Start asking your providers and application developers if they support IPv6, and you can be assured that it will help with the transition.