5 years ago Jeff Doyle and I recorded a podcast on IPv6 in Enterprise. We talked about IPv6 addressing plan , adaption and growth rate of IPv6 in Enterprise.
In this post I would like to talk about IPv6 deployment status, challenges and the possible business drivers in IPv6 and I will share my thoughts on IPv6 deployments in 2019.
Comments are always welcome, please don’t hesitate to share it in the comment box below.
Despite what IPv6 evangelists say, unfortunately, I see IPv6 is a big failure. Both for many Service Providers as well as Small and Medium Scale Enterprise networks.
Based on Google Statistics, IPv6 traffic is around 15 – 20% and this is mostly because large content providers and CDN companies IPv6 deployments.
When we consider the individuals , such as home users or small and medium size businesses, more than 90% of the networks are still not IPv6 enabled, as of 2019.
Biggest business drivers of IPv6 in Enterprise networks are business continuity and incoming traffic performance.
Let me explain these two points a bit and let’s analyze whether they are really a driver that can scare the companies or do they see value , or do they have an easy and cheaper alternatives.
Business Continuity as a Business Driver of IPv6 deployment in Enterprise Networks:
There are IPv6 only networks. When these networks need to reach IPv4 Internet, NAT is required. When the content is on IPv6, IPv6 only network can reach to the content without NAT.
If an Enterprise want to continue three businesses for the IPv6 only networks, Enterprise need to enable IPv6 on their network. That was the idea behind this business driver but unfortunately theory doesn’t match with the practice.
Still Enterprises don’t deploy IPv6 and waiting source traffic to be NATed , maybe true NAT 64 +DNS 44 or other alternative translation mechanisms.
Second business driver is performance of having the content both on IPv4 and IPv6 , so basically a Dual Stack. Before continue reading this business drivers, please read my post ‘ Is Dual Stack really the best IPv6 transition mechanism? ‘
Incoming Network Traffic Performance as a IPv6 Business Driver for Enterprise Networks
When Service Providers need to do NAT on their network to connect IPv4 Only and IPv6 Only network, NAT added extra latency and possibly break some applications. Application which may work though one level of NAT may not perform well or at all with multiple level of NAT.
If Enterprise companies content is available on IPv6 and the Service Providers don’t have to perform NAT but passes IPv6 traffic natively, performance can be improve by removing NAT from the path.
Although this can be another valid business case, probably lack of analysis to justify performance improvement , other business priorities or many other reasons, unfortunately this business driver doesn’t push Enterprise networks to deploy IPv6.Other than competition or regulatory mandates, IPv6 in Enterprise don’t have realistic business drivers. If your competitor deploy IPv6, this pushes you to deploy it too whether there is a true benefit for your network or not.