For some time, networking experts have been sounding the alarm that the number of TCP/IP addresses is rapidly being consumed as the world becomes increasingly wired. The fix is IPv6, which brings a number of technological advances along with billions of potential addresses. The U.S. has been somewhat slow to adopt IPv6, but Comcast, the largest Internet Service Provider in the U.S., is helping further the project with free and open source tools. Enterprise Networking Planet has the details.
What will it take to get Americans to use IPv6?
For one thing, it will require broadband providers like Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) to help users be fully enabled on IPv6 while still being able to access IPv4 content. That’s where the new open source Address Family Transition Router (AFTR) software comes into play.
AFTR is an open source effort led by Comcast and the Internet Systems Consortium (ISC), the developer of the BIND DNS server. The project aims to provide IPv6 users with continued access to IPv4 networks, helping to smooth the transition.
The IPv4 address space in North America is nearing exhaustion, which is why it’s becoming increasingly important for networks to move to IPv6, which provides more address space.