The Coming Move to IPv6

            IPv4 addresses have been running out increasingly in the past few months and have recently run out completely. In a recent blog written by Sean Kerner of internetnews.com (2011), he states that “The last five blocks of Internet addresses available under IPv4 protocol were allocated by ICANN, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, in a ceremony on Thursday, February 3, 2011 in Miami.” What does this mean for corporations? It means corporations now need to start thinking and preparing for the need to support IPv6 protocol for their customers and employees. IPv6 is the next step in the Internet evolution, which allows for an IP address of /64. A quick explanation of the difference between the number of address spaces available for IPv4 and IPv6 are IPv4 has a total of 4,294,967,296 addresses which are now all used up and for IPv6 the number of addresses available for use are 2^128, which is a substantial increase of usable address space for companies. This will allow companies who need or want to expand their IT network and infrastructure the chance to do so. They can then take advantage of more address space and security by using other new technologies like mobile technology and cloud computing, which will increase their capacity to better help their current and future customers.

This movement has already begun moving around the globe, but the movement in the United States at best has been sluggish. If the U.S. doesn’t want to get left behind there must be significant Federal push much like the Digital TV transition where the Federal Government set and announced a date for the television industry to make these changes immediately. “China, Japan and South Korea all have mandated adoption of the next-generation protocol, so companies in other countries will be left behind if they don't start using it, said Alex Lightman, chairman and chief executive officer of Innofone.com Inc., an IPv6 training and consulting company in Santa Monica, California” (Lawson 2006). Government agencies like the Department of Defense of have been using IPv6 since 2008 but much more awareness is needed. Until the average American understands the benefits of IPv6 the move will likely continue to be slow.

               
           Of course with any move to a new system companies want to know how much it will cost them. The actual configuration of changing over to IPv4 to IPv6 requires very little technical effort depending on the size of the company. Businesses like Yahoo, Google, and Facebook, whose Web sites generate billions of visits a day, have been leading the charge towards IPv6 and are relaying the notion to users that this will be the future of the Internet. The real issue of making this switch forward is having some users left on IPv4 while others use the new and improved IPv6 protocol. According to Stephen Lawson (2011), a writer for pcworld.com, this issue can be solved by companies that have started making the switch to IPV6. In most cases companies will be using a “dual-stack” configuration wherein each request made by the client will be associated with its version of the protocol. This allows both users to view the webpage and not have any conflict. There are known problems with using this configuration though, “according to Salient Federal Solutions, a leader in information technology security, the number one attack is a result of IPv6 traffic being tunneled across IPv4 networks, which uses a mechanism called Teredo which is built into both Microsoft Windows Vista and Windows 7” (Marsen 2011). This mechanism was created by Microsoft for the transition from IPv4 to IPv6 but with companies moving very slowly this exploit of tunneling into companies will continue.  Today almost all companies are aware of this situation and should be making efforts in IT projects now that help enable thier customers to use IPv6 securely in the future.

               
            Overall with more customers and internet users in general becoming more aware of IPv6 and with companies wanting to expand their IT network with iPhones, iPads, and other mobile technology the need to switch and secure their systems becomes increasingly more relevant and compelling, and choosing not to make this switch in a timely fashion can pose a security risk the longer a company waits.

References

Flynn, L. J. (2011). Drumming Up More Addresses in the Internet. New York Times. Retrieved September 18, 2011 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/technology/15internet.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2

Kerner, S. M. (2011). ICANN Marks the End of IPV4, Looks to IPv6. Retrieved September 18 2011 http://www.internetnews.com/infra/article.php/3923436/ICANN+Marks+End+of+IPv4+Looks+to+IPv6.htm

Lawson, S. (2006). U.S. Enterprises: Don’t be left behind on IPv6. Retrieved September 18 2011 http://www.infoworld.com/t/networking/us-enterpises-dont-be-left-behind-ipv6-972

Lawson, S. (2011). 10 Things to Know About the Move to IPv6. Retrieved September 18 2011 http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/229686/10_things_to_know_about_the_move_to_ipv6.html

Marsan, C. D. (2011). Scariest IPv6 Attack Scenarios. Retrieved September 18 2011 http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/238848/scariest_ipv6_attack_scenarios.html

A Little SIP.

              The need to migrate to IPv6 from IPv4 is increasing every week and this week is no exception. This week we have SIP, Session Initiation Protocol, teaming up with IPV6 and showing the interoperability of the two technologies and the benefits they contribute to business operations. At the end of the month the international SIP Forum will be held in Monte Carlo, Monaco (Epstein 2011). This convention will showcase the opportunities of “Multiple SIP-based applications in different network architectures” (Epstein 2011). SIP is quickly becoming the standard of how to control sessions such as video and voice communications over IP. The protocol is used for creating, modifying and terminating two-party sessions. The annual forum will call to attention the advanced space, better security, and increased performance of IPv6. It will demonstrate “how crucial IPv6 interoperability is to the industry as the next generation Internet protocol continues to be introduced to the market. Participating companies will have the option to test and review SIP-related video and telepresence applications as well” (Epstein 2011). This forum will bring together industry leaders and their devices and put them to the test of IPv6 interoperability. This forum also allows companies a neutral zone in which they can test the capabilities of their devices and figure out any technical issues before manufacturing their devices. This protocol is quite secure as well in which it allows “private” data to pass through current standard network infrastructures if both sides are using the protocol. Without getting too technical the packets carry a “Modified payload within the SIP message” allowing it to talk with both sides in a standardized way (Hofmann 2009). Even if companies have available IPv4 addresses there must be an increased attention for companies to develop an IPv6 transition plan as soon as possible for continuous support of their business functions such as voice and video over IP which will only continue to expand as the technology we use will further demand it in the future such as SIP (Ovum Research 2011).  

Epstein, J. October 7, 2011. SIPIT, Annual SIP Forum to Take Place in Monte Carlo. Retrieved from http://sip-trunking.tmcnet.com/topics/sip-trunking/articles/226940-sipit-annual-sip-forum-take-place-monte-carlo.htm

Hofmann, B. February 26, 2009. Using SIP for Flexible Integration in Call Centers. Retrieved from http://ivr.tmcnet.com/topics/sip-server/articles/51289-using-sip-flexible-integration-call-centers.htm

Ovum Research. October 7, 2011. Ovum: IPv6 Transition – Why the Rush? Retrieved from http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2011/10/07/248098/Ovum-IPv6-transition-why-the-rush.htm

Multi-Gigabit WiFi

            Current Wi-Fi speeds aren’t enough for most folks and with users becoming more mobile the need for faster Wi-Fi speeds are here, which is why WiGig is being developed and will soon be on the market according to Ali Sadri, president and chairman of the Wireless Gigabit Alliance. WiGig is one of the new Wi-Fi technologies (the other being Wireless HD) becoming available to companies which has estimated output speeds of up to 7 Gb/s, which is a huge leap in our current maximum speed of 600 Mbit/s on the IEEE 802.11n standards (Churchill 2011). WiGig has been developed by the top IT companies around the world including but not limited to; Intel, AMD, Microsoft, Panasonic, Samsung, Dell and Cisco. The new technology will use the 60GHz transmission while the older bands, 802.11n and 802.11g, are on spectrums 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz (Nadel 2011). These have become increasingly crowded as new users get on board with their iPads, iPhones, and iPod Touch’s. The new spectrum will allow for much greater throughput of data allowing seamless streaming of high-definition content, which helps companies that need to move data between each other very quickly (Nadel 2011).

This new technology will help any company especially IT looking to grow their wireless networks. CIOs should be looking towards expanding their networks according to the growth of the company and this new technology will make Wi-Fi a whole lot faster, which in turn leads companies to better serve their customers in response time. Both the customer and the employee is becoming more mobile due to Apple products and the mobile technology craze, which allow companies to be more flexible in while they work. The employee doesn’t have to be sitting at their desk all day in front of a keyboard. The only current concern for this new technology is its top speed maximum range, which is currently at 45 feet. Some ways around this is for companies to create a backbone network of Ethernet that runs behind the walls in strategic locations which can then connect to several WiGig transmitters (Nadel 2011). Also included with the new technology is the requirement of getting new equipment that run on the newer spectrum, which will cost companies money but in the future could lighten the load when additional users are needed to expand.

I believe the need to upgrade a companies wireless network for quicker speeds of data transfer is a no brainer for any IT manager because companies are constantly growing and more employees will become a drag on the older spectrums during peak usage.

Churchill, S. (2011). Fast Transistion to 802.11ac Predicts ABI. Retrieved 20 September 2011 from http://www.dailywireless.org/2011/09/19/fast-transistion-to-802-11ac-predicts-abi/

Nadel, B. (2011). 5 more tech Breakthroughs: Innovations in access, power and control. 
            Retrieved 20 September 2011 from http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9219724/5_more_tech_breakthroughs_Innovations_in_access_power_and_control