As Barney Stinson from the TV show How I Met Your Mother says, “Change is always better.” This is the case with the change from internet protocol version four to version six. IPv6 is an improvement of IPv4 in many ways. While there are reasons to switch from IPv4 to IPv6, there are also some issues that make the change problematic. Although the switch may have positive and negative outcomes, the change will become necessary in the near future.
With the recent popularization of the internet — and the transition from the internet as a tool to the internet of things — we are seeing a positive trend in ownership that will lead to more connected devices than we currently have addresses for with the IPv4. Internet protocol currently dictates a maximum available address threshold at roughly 4 billion unique addresses, using IPv4’s 32-bit system. With seven billion people on Earth — and each of them claiming ownership of at least one internet-connected device — we will reach the threshold very soon. An upgrade to internet protocol, IPv6, uses a 128-bit system for creating unique addresses — leading to an astounding 2 raised to the power of 128 addresses — or “340 trillion trillion trillion unique IP addresses.”[1] In other words, we could “assign an IPv6 address to every atom on the surface of the Earth, and still have enough addresses left to do another 100+ Earths.”[2] With the increase in use of the internet-connected devices, this change from IPv4 to IPv6 would cement our ability to continue expanding the internet of things — hopefully leading to a ‘Jetson’s’ type of futuristic society.
Unfortunately the rise of the internet has made the change from IPv4 to IPv6 technically quite difficult. Backwards compatibility between internet protocol version four and version six is problematic — there simply is no backwards compatibility between the two.[3] Although computers and phones have been IPv6 compatible for some time now, we are unlikely to see the switch because of the expensive cost falling to ISP’s and phone companies.[4]
Another reason we haven’t made the switch is because it brings little advantages to consumers. Although the introduction of automatic configuration and elimination of NAT are important benefits to consumers, service providers argue that the benefits simply aren’t worth the price.[5] I’ve found myself wishing away NAT types when playing video games, due to trouble connecting to my friends while gaming — and the switch would certainly be welcome from my perspective.
In fact, I would argue that with the internet of things growing at such a rapid rate, it is not only a welcome but a necessary change. Without the change from IPv4 to IPv6 we will soon be stuck with slowed advancement due to technical limitations — if the internet of things is to continue rapidly growing, we must make the change sooner rather than later. The evolution of the internet has brought upon great things for our society, and the change in protocol would see the trend of evolution continue throughout our lives and future generations. It’s as though a pile of garbage is rolling downhill. Will we let it gather more and more garbage before addressing the problem?
