Special Features:
WILL NEW NET PROTOCOLS
AFFECT GRIDS?
"You can run IPv4 and IPv6 at the same time. We expect a very long period
of
coexistence in the network," the IETF's Margaret Wasserman said. "There's not
flag day -- there's no day you have to convert."
Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) was supposed to be the next Year 2000,
without the deadline. But warnings that the world soon would run out of
IP addresses were wrong, much like the Year 2000 gloomy predictions. Still,
there is one crucial difference between the two situations: IPv6 is still
hanging around.
Wireless Internet devices, such as third-generation (3G) cell phones, that
roam among different access points will create a huge need for IP addresses
and ultimately could spark a fire under IPv6.
Not only does IPv6 geometrically increase the number of available Internet
addresses by increasing the address space from 32 bits to 128 bits, it also
offers security and configuration options relevant to mobile communications
that IPv4, the current standard, lacks.
"When the mobile wireless providers look at their business case, they
quickly
realize that they may not get the address space for IP phones that they're
expecting," Patrick Groseetete, a software product manager at Cisco Systems
said.
Europe on the Move
Europe and Japan are taking the lead in implementing IPv6, largely because
IPv4 addresses are heavily concentrated in North America, leaving other
regions with crumbs. Groseetete cited the example of a school in Europe that
can get only one IP address, precluding it from taking advantage of
teleteaching, videoconferencing or mobile connectivity.
The problem is not limited to Europe and Japan. Only last April did China
surpass the number of IP addresses used by the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology . And India has the same number of IP addresses as a mid-size
software company in the United States.
But changes are coming. In late 2001, SURFnet of the Netherlands, a
national
computer network designed for education and research, became one of the first
large networks to deploy and begin testing IPv6 in dual stack mode using Cisco
equipment.
On SURFnet, IPv6 and IPv4 services are offered to members in several ways,
including as IPv6 tunnels through IPv4 (where IPv6 traffic is encapsulated
within IPv4 packets), and as dual stack networks (where IPv4 and IPv6 run
simultaneously, enabling smoother application migration).
Similar deployments also are taking place elsewhere in Europe. For example,
the European Union's IPv6 Wireless Internet Initiative has been set up to
explore a new wireless system based on IPv6 and the GPRS (general packet radio
service) and 3G communications standards. The European Commission has pledged
US$3.4 billion over the next several years to help member states with the
changeover.
Fizzle, Not Sizzle
On the other hand, in the United States, watching the change is like
watching
grass grow. One reason for the delay is a set of IPv4 workarounds called
network address translators (NATs), which let corporations and service
providers configure a large number of computers to share a single IP
address.
"It's certainly taking a long time," Margaret Wasserman, chairperson of the
IPv6 working group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), said. "We
thought we would run out of address space fairly soon. The use
of NATs has slowed down the use of IP addresses. In the U.S. we see little or
no pressure to move to IPv6."
Nevertheless, an early trickle is in evidence at research and education
networks, which are beginning to deploy IPv4 and IPv6 in parallel on their
backbones, Michael H. Lambert, a network engineer at the Pittsburgh
Supercomputing Center, said. Abilene, the largest research and
education network in the United States, "runs IPv4 and IPv6 on the same wires
and with the same performance objectives. This approach allows hosts with
IPv4-only stacks, IPv6-only stacks and dual stacks to have seamless access to
the network," he said.
Commercial Adoption Coming?
In the future, the rate of commercial adoption could accelerate, thanks to
two
of IPv6's big advantages: end-to-end security and autoconfiguration, both of
which will play a role in mobile networks.
As more and more Internet users move around, the "trusted network" security
model breaks down, Wasserman said. What is needed is an end-to-end security
model in which each specific node is authenticated. "NATs are incompatible
with the use of end-to-end security because the translation stops the node
from having a unique address," she explained. "It also stops use of encryption
because when a packet is encrypted, the NAT can't translate IP addresses."
In the research and education community, "the end-to-end model is generally
considered essential, making IPv6 necessary," Lambert said. "Solutions such as
NAT -- which unfortunately has been foisted on unsuspecting enterprises as a
security panacea -- break the end-to-end model and thus work against the
deployment of leading-edge applications."
With the second big advantage of IPv6, autoconfiguration, Internet devices
will be able to generate their own IP addresses without any manual or
server-based configuration, allowing peer-to-peer communications.
What's My Motivation?
The changeover will require some investment. Core routers in the Internet
backbone need to be able to handle IPv6, though many already do. Enterprises
that want to use IPv6 will need to upgrade their routers and operating
systems. But "it's not all or nothing -- it can be cost controlled," Wasserman
said. "You can run IPv4 and IPv6 at the same time. We expect a very long
period of coexistence in the network. There's not flag day -- there's no day
you have to convert."
Software also must be considered. "A lot of people are still running
Windows
95 and Windows 2000. If you want IPv6, you need Windows XP," Groseetete said.
Indeed, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) has been lobbying the computing industry to
adopt IPv6 more rapidly.
"Most modern operating systems come with built-in IPv6 support -- it's just
a
matter of enabling it," Lambert added. "Router code will, in many cases, have
to be upgraded to versions with IPv6 support."
According to Wasserman, the real problem with IPv6 adoption in the United
States is the "chicken and egg" dilemma. Commercial service is not available
for IPv6, so no devices or applications use it. But service providers will not
switch unless there are applications and devices, not to mention people
willing to pay more for the service.
"All of the service providers are in trial but still asking how they can
make
revenue from it," Groseetete pointed out.
Governing Interests
If commercial interests in the United States are not stoked soon, it is
possible that the federal government could step in to provide incentive, as
the Japanese government did, Wasserman said. President Bush's critical
infrastructure board already has called for a Department of Commerce study of
security issues related to IPv6.
Even with aggressive deployment of next-generation technology , however,
IPv4
likely will be with us for at least the next decade, according to Lambert.
"There are too many printers and embedded and legacy systems which cannot
readily be upgraded to include IPv6 support," he said. "However, what we are
likely to see is application gateways to tunnel IPv4 packets inside IPv6 so
that these legacy systems still have access to the [IPv6] Internet. Transition
began with IPv6 islands in an IPv4 Internet; it will end with IPv4 islands in
an IPv6 Internet."
"I think it will happen between 2006 and 2010," Groseetete said.
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