The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has issued a Request for Comment to help inform their efforts to drive the Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) transition. By 2020, an anticipated 200 billion devices around the world will be connected to the Internet. This demand for IP addresses will drastically exceed the IP version 4 (IPv4) capacity. The NTIA intends to help drive the pace of IPv6 adoption by promoting best practices and offering incentives to transition.
The explosion the Internet of Things (IoT) has created new markets for devices that connect to the Internet using an IP address. The IPv4 supports approximately 4.3 billion IP addresses, meaning current demand nearly exceeds the capacity of IPv4. While a solution has already been developed in the IPv6 system, only one third of Internet services in the US have adopted the new protocol.
The NTIA would like to hear from companies that have already adopted IPv6 to better understand the factors and considerations to make before adopting the new protocol. Specifically, they would like feedback around the following questions:
- What are the benefits of and obstacles related to implementing IPv6?
- What factors contribute to an organization’s decision to implement IPv6?
- What is the anticipated return on an IPv6-related investment?
- How long does the planning process for IPv6 implementation take, and what are the different types of costs involved?
Comments should be emailed to ipv6@ntia.doc.gov by October 3, 2016. Feedback will be used to guide the NTIA’s efforts, and may also be used to add to the IPv6 Best Practice Forum managed by the Internet Governance Forum.
To take a look at the NTIA’s past work on IPv6, check out the 2011 IPv6 Readiness Tool for Businesses, created as a checklist for businesses getting ready to deploy the new protocol.