Frank Childs

As we begin the new year, I would like to take this chance to briefly identify and discuss one major challenge or issues for the coming year. Let's first discuss a particular challenge before we get to the good news of a wonderful new opportunity.

Many of us are probably somewhat familiar with the two major versions of the IP (Internet Protocol). I am referring specifically to version 4 and version 6 of the Internet Protocol. IP version 4 is the same protocol that the industry has been using for the last 20 years or so. Since the advent of the Internet itself, IP has been and continues to be used as the primary protocol for both internal office networks and for the Internet itself. This protocol requires that everything on your internal network and on the public network or the Internet has its own unique IP address.

So how fast do you think the need for unique IP addresses has grown over the years, particularly in this age of streaming video over the Internet and most everyone now using a smart phone device, an iPad, or some other device that requires Internet access. For every computer, smart phone, or other device that has access to the Internet, somewhere along the line it has to go through some router that has a unique IP address and I can assure you that the need for these unique numbers, otherwise known as IP addresses, has grown way faster then you or I can possibly imagine.

As I see it, there are two components to this problem. First is that we are running out of these addresses. IP version 4 can only provide a finite amount (about 4.3 billion) of unique IP addresses before we all run out and by we I mean all of us on planet Earth as this is a worldwide problem. So then along comes IP version 6, but this leads me to the second component of this problem.

Although IP version 6 greatly increases the number to an almost infinite set of unique addresses, it is not backwards compatible to version 4. So what does that mean? Simply put it means that you cannot expect older software and equipment to work properly with the newer versions and newer gear that are designed to fully support IP v6. Now the question becomes, how do I or my business deal with this issue?

Most, if not all of the major vendors, have been releasing their latest versions and editions with full IP v6 support. I would think that the most important thing we can do is to make sure that we upgrade any critical servers, or computers on our networks to the latest and current version of the Operating System it is using. For example, if you are running any older Windows servers still (like Windows Server 2003 or older) or Linux servers you should make a decision this year about whether or not the role or the applications these servers support and provide are critical or not. If they not critical you need to get these machines off of your network and off of the Internet, but it they are I would recommend that you get them upgraded this year.

The point of all this is that NOW is the time to handle and deal with these issues regarding the older and still very common us of the IP v4. If you or I continue to put off addressing this issue, then we do so at our own risk. Some industry experts (or insiders or whatever you want to call them) are predicting that this could be the year of widespread Internet failures.

I must confess that this does not sound all that much different then what we heard about towards the end of the decade in the 1990s. You will recall that this was in regards to the impending computer failures that would arise when the year changed from 1999 to 2000. I think we would all agree that the Y2K scare ended up being much ado about virtually nothing. On the other hand, it is good to be aware of this IP issue and my opinion is that it will be a much bigger deal then Y2K was within a couple of years or so.