Most of us realize that IPv4/IPv6 is not an either/or situation. When organizations plan their migration to IPv6, many of them think that they need to make a complete transition from IPv4 to IPv6.
They think that they need to make a complete switch from one protocol to the other. This isn’t the case.
Industry authorities already knew that the migration could take a considerable period of time and thus created an array of transition mechanisms—the most dominant one being dual-stack implementation. This mechanism involves operating both protocols—until at some point in time, IPv4 is turned off.
IPv4 Address Depletion Is Real
As organizations continue to move to IPv6, at the backend, IPv4 exhaustion is growing. While RIPE and APNIC are already facing the consequences of IPv4 exhaustion, the LACNIC region is on the verge of address depletion due to massive growth in internet usage in the past years.
Moreover, ARIN anticipates that its pool of addresses will be completely exhausted within a few months.
IPv6 Deployment Continues
The integration of IPv6 has been growing dramatically over the past half decade. Considering the IPv6 Statistics – IPv6 Adoption graph, it seems that IPv6 adoption has been doubling every year.
Regardless of this fact, the majority of internet traffic is still IPv4. Also, while 19 percent of ASNs are promoting IPv6 routes, merely 7% are operating both protocols. These statistics indicate that it would still be impossible to reach many online destinations with an IPv6 configuration.
The IPv4 Crunch
There are plenty of organizations that have started running out of public IPv4 addresses and are feeling the crunch.
In fact, many private organizations are even running out of address spaces in their NATed environments.
Additionally, IPv4 prefixes are getting smaller and smaller. If your organization anticipates a shortage of IPv4 addresses spaces or has just started to feel the crunch of the shortage, you are already behind.
Most service providers will have no option other than using some form of Large Scale NAT in the coming years.
Most organizations will need to deploy solutions that provide dual stack connectivity for IPv4 and IPv6 address spaces. The systems will utilize both protocols to cover all corners and facilitate easy access for a large share of clients. Aggressive IPv6 deployment is still not the practical approach.
Whether you are looking to buy, sell or lease IPv4 address spaces, get in touch with IPv4 Mall to find out how the company can help.