3G Americas Provides IPv6 Transition Recommendations

The trade body, 3G Americas has published a white paper which it says is intended to assist wireless service providers plan a smooth and successful IPv6 transitioning process. Current IPv4 addresses are being depleted at a very rapid rate, and are expected, by some analyst predictions, to exhaust as soon as 2012.

The white paper by 3G Americas addresses the problems that will occur when new IPv4 address blocks are no longer available. Service providers will face increasing capital expenses and numerous challenges when attempting to operate their networks efficiently on a limited number of IPv4 addresses. Not only does transitioning to IPv6 solve the address exhaustion problem, it will likely enable new services perhaps impossible in an IPv4-only world. The 3G Americas' white paper strongly recommends that rather than wait for the inevitable difficulties to arise, service providers should begin planning their transition to IPv6 as soon as possible.

Because of the complexity of transitioning from IPv4 to IPv6, the white paper provides suggested guidelines for implementation, including: developing a transitioning plan, using a phased approach, developing an IPv4-IPv6 interworking solution, and security considerations. The paper analyzes the impacts a wireless service provider faces when introducing IPv6, investigating three particular use cases in detail: (a) Video Share service, (b) gaming services, and (c) Blackberry service.

Chris Pearson, President of 3G Americas, stated: "The need to transition to IPv6 is upon us. The Internet continues to expand at a rapid pace, with wireless devices becoming major users of IP addresses. Transitioning to IPv6 will take significant effort, but it can no longer be delayed. 3G Americas is calling attention to this issue in order to encourage operators to begin planning for this important transition."

The white paper (pdf file 23 pages) can be downloaded from the 3G Americas website.

Posted to the site on 6th March 2008