Articles about IPv4

The IPv6 protocol reached its 10th birthday in June this year. By using more address bits than the earlier IPv4 it opened up the way for more connected devices.

But IPv6 has other benefits too. We spoke to Akamai fellow and chief architect Erik Nygren to find out more about them and how they've changed the internet.

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As hundreds of regional communications service providers rush to deploy broadband and add thousands of new subscribers to their networks, they face a long list of tasks and budget items to be addressed. Most of the budget and buildout schedule will focus on the physical deployment of the fiber (FTTH) or wireless access. However, back in the core network, one of the important decisions -- and one that needs to be made early in the planning process for a network buildout or expansion -- is how to approach IP connectivity.

Given the exhaustion of IPv4 addresses, and the cost and complexity of migrating from IPv4 to IPv6, operators need to think carefully about how they will provide an IP address for every customer. After all, a network won’t run without IP connectivity.

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As rural broadband initiatives help bridge the digital divide, communications service providers have a wealth of opportunities to add subscribers, expand territory, and grow their business. However, they will first need to address the challenges posed by IPv4 exhaustion -- and its impact on the cost of new subscriber IP addresses.

Since November 2019, when the final allocation of publicly available IPv4 addresses was made, new IPv4 addresses have been obtainable only at high open market prices. There is a virtually unlimited stock of IPv6 addresses available, but migration to the new standard is a highly complex prospect and impractical in the short term for many communications service providers. They need a more feasible and affordable way to support new subscribers.

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