Complexity hampering IPv6 upgrades

05/04/2011

Many telecom service providers have yet to migrate to the IPv6 address protocol because they do not recognize any economically viable reasons to make the transition. Instead, most are waiting until IPv6 becomes a necessity to switch to the new standard, according to a recent report from BroadbandDSLReports.com.

This reluctance to deploy IPv6 could end up hurting many service providers, the report said, because the migration to the new standard will be incredibly complex for most telecoms.

The report explained hardware redundancy will be one key complication in the move to IPv6. Most telecom service providers purchase hardware from multiple vendors to maintain competitive pricing models. While this complexity is manageable most of the time, it can become overwhelming when an organization has to upgrade such diverse hardware for the new standard, according to the report.

Switching to the IPv6 protocol could have major benefits though, despite the complexity. The report said the large-scale hardware upgrades required to switch to IPv6 could encourage telecom providers to enhance their service offerings.

Many companies have been slow to note the urgency of IPv6 because they have a clear timeline of IPv4's demise. A recent InformationWeek report said it is time for those businesses to begin pushing toward the new protocol.

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