Executive Summary
The formal exhaustion of public IPv4 addresses by the Internet Assigned Numbers
Authority in 2011 occurred at a critical turning point in the history of the Internet—namely,
at the moment when the typical Internet host is evolving away from the desktop and to
the mobile device. As a result, the entire human population is expected to have online
access by 2015. Such scale will only be feasible with the abundance of address resources
offered by IPv6. As a result, any organisation relying on the IT ecosystem enabled by the
Internet Protocol—especially those organisations with public-facing content—is at great
risk. In the absence of an IPv6 adoption initiative an organisation’s business continuity,
business agility, and competitive advantage are all endangered.
Yet IPv6 adoption is less daunting than it might initially appear (especially given the
breadth and complexity of adopting a new network addressing protocol). Many IPv6
adoption goals are actually low-risk and low-cost and numerous organisations are already
making significant progress adopting IPv6 (alongside IPv4) thanks to generally robust
network gear and host OS support. Among these organisations some key concepts have
facilitated a successful beginning to their IPv6 adoption initiatives. These concepts
include the recognition of IPv6 adoption as a cross-functional initiative as well as the
importance of a phased approach that tackles low-risk and low-cost IPv6 adoption goals
first. Other worthwhile steps include identifying IPv6 stakeholders in each business unit
as well as incorporating IPv6 into existing IT process cycles.
Whatever the initial scope of IPv6 adoption an organisation decides upon (whether it’s
exploratory, complete, or limited to making IPv4 content available over IPv6—perhaps
to participate in World IPv6 Launch) this methodology can help organisations overcome
inertia and get started with IPv6 adoption.
Getting Started
Ideally, any organisation planning on adopting IPv6 would enjoy management buy-in,
sufficient capital and operational budget, stakeholders committed to IPv6 adoption in
each business unit, sufficient training and knowledge resources, and enough time to
execute while effectively managing risk and cost.
In reality, most organisations that have decided to get started with IPv6 adoption discover
that one or more of these desirable conditions are deficient or altogether absent.
Conflicting views of the importance of IPv6 adoption from the executive team,
management buy-in without additional budget or personnel, no work cycles for (or
ignorance of) IPv6 adoption in one or more business units, lack of training resources,
and no time outside of regular workload to devote to IPv6 adoption goals are all
common themes.
But the ultimate value of an IPv6 strategy can be gauged by its effectiveness in
overcoming these deficiencies. While it may be impractical to address all of the
organisational barriers hampering IPv6 adoption, most successful IPv6 adoption
strategies share certain key features or ideas. This paper will introduce you to some key
concepts that will help get you started with IPv6 adoption and should make your IPv6
adoption initiative more effective overall.
Click Here To Read More about IPV6 Adoption Strategies otherwise Contact Us Today to discuss your IPV6 adoption.
