When
IPv4 was created, the developers had no idea how many devices would be connected to the network. Therefore, the number of required addresses were calculated based on the number of inhabitants of the planet. After the results of the experiment showed how many addresses the world really needs, the developers planned to launch a "full-fledged" version of the protocol. But IPv4 began to be used everywhere. Therefore, many companies intend to switch to a new version of the protocol.
IPv6 is a fundamentally new solution with additional features that are intended to replace the ending IPv4.
Another reason for the
transition to IPv6 is its increased performance. The new protocol is faster than IPv4 in Europe, Africa, and Oceania. When everyone starts using IPv6, protocol performance will improve significantly, and it will bypass IPv4 in connection speed and reliability.
IPv6 technology offers a more robust set of features and significantly increases the pool of global IP addresses compared to IPv4. At the same time, it allows you to simplify not only network administration, but also solve problems related to security and mobility. It also improves the quality of service QoS. At present, the issue of transition to the IPv6 protocol is quite pressing, since every year both the number of people accessing the Internet and the number of devices that these people use increases.
Today, most Internet resources exist only in IPv4-space, and therefore it is necessary to support both protocols and use address translation between them. The new and old versions of the IP protocol are incompatible with each other. However, as reported by the Internet Society State of IPv6 Deployment 2018 report, Facebook is in the process of turning IPv4 off within their data centers. Companies like LinkedIn and Microsoft also like this idea and are probably going to do this soon as well.
Three reasons to move to IPv6:1. Inevitability
The truth is that IPv6 will soon become the only option to connect new devices and hosts to the Internet. Small and medium enterprises should switch to IPv6 in order to be ready for the inevitable coming of the day when IPv4 will simply not be supported anymore. Early adoption of IPv6 will allow enterprises to throw off the burden of fear that the
disappearance of IPv4 will affect their business negatively.
2. Efficiency
IPv6 simplifies and speeds up data transfer due to more efficient packet processing. As a result, the valuable working time of the router is released to perform its immediate tasks.
3. Security
IPv4 was not originally thought of as a secure protocol. IPv6, by contrast, was designed from the very beginning in terms of protection. IPv6 encrypts traffic and checks packet integrity, implementing VPN-like protection for standard Internet traffic.