2009/9/17 Steve Crocker <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxx>: > Here are some useful points along the way from pure IPv4 to pure IPv6. > A. Every new computer is able to talk IPv6 > B. Every transport is able to talk IPv6, i.e. every network from tier 1 ISPs > down through wifi hot spots and every internal corporate network > C. Every major service, e.g. Google, CNN, Amazon, is reachable via IPv6 I would suggest C before B. My machine has been able to "talk IPv6" for a long time. The more recent changes have been related to the fact that it can now "talk IPv6" in different environments. Give it IPv6 and it will use that. Give it only a public IPv4 address and it will attempt 6to4. Give it a private/NATted IPv4 address and it will do Teredo. For IPv6 to be interesting I have to be able use it where I am. And Google at least is already there... And transport will follow. Some time back an ISP person asked me if they should offer IPv6 - nobody was asking for it. I suggested that he start by looking at how much tunneled IPv6 he was already carrying. > F. A substantial number of major services are not directly accessible via > IPv4 (but, of course, will be accessible via gateways) Of course it would be nice for legacy services to remain accessible in the same old way for a long, long time. But the reality is that a lot of this business just does not work that way. I just do not expect other people to invest in gateways for me. But again that is not for tomorrow and maybe people will change.<g> > Imagine the decision process for the CIO or network architect of a medium or > large company. A security policy exists and it's implemented with a > collection of commercial products -- firewalls, routers, intrusion detection > systems, etc. -- all configured and managed to support the company's > security policy. Further imagine the both the transport and the individual > devices are all capable of supporting and using IPv6. How quickly will the > CIO or network architect decide that it's time to switch everyone over to > IPv6? But he will not decide to "switch everyone over". No enterprise-level flag-day. The more interesting question for him is which bit of the organisation he decides to enable first. And anyway some of them will be still using IPv6 before then. > IPv6 is definitely necessary and we should all do everything we can to move > I'm just noting that even when IPv6 is widely available > and in broad use, there will be a long tail before IPv4 fades from the > scene. I am not so sure about the relevance of the "long tail". Anybody on this list using a laptop which is ten years old? Five years old? How often to you renew bits of your home network? I of course don't know where the tipping point is but I suspect that it could tip in fewer years than one might have imagined. Still years. But less than ten rather than more than twenty? Gordon _______________________________________________ Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf