[AfriNIC-rpd] Last Call for Comments: Global Policy Proposal for the Allocation of IPv4 Blocks to Regional

[SM]

At 17:02 06-06-2009, Scott Leibrand wrote:
>While we do need everyone to start supporting IPv6 as soon as
>possible, the requirement for dual-stack connectivity means there will
>be a continued need for IPv4 addresses, at least for transitional
>technologies, until almost everyone has transitioned to IPv6 and all
>IPv4 islands are using something like NAT-PT to talk to the IPv6
>Internet. That will take a few years past IANA exhaustion, at best,
>and may take a decade or more.

Adding to what Scott said, this is not like the transition between 
ARPANET and the Internet which took over five years.  Some people 
have suggested not to extend the lifetime of IPv4 by adopting such 
policies.  Unfortunately, given the scale of the Internet, there will 
still be a need for IPv4 for the years to come.  There may be IPv4 
and IPv6 islands.  You'll need gateways (dual-stack hosts) to connect 
them together.  It's not so difficult, relatively speaking, for web 
access.  Google, for example, already offers IPv6 access for some 
networks.  There are a lot of other "application" protocols in use 
over the Internet.  The translation gateways to get them to work 
probably won't be on the ISP side as there is less demand.

Take a look at your network and find out how many of your devices 
support IPv6.  Find out how many of the software you use have IPv6 support.

Regards,
-sm