Chapter 2. IPv4 or IPv6—Myths and Realities

The year is 1977. Earth’s population has not yet reached 4.5 billion. One hundred and eleven interconnected computing machines make up the ARPANET, a research network.

Thirty years later, in 2008, Earth’s population peaks at 6.6 billion and the Internet, with a population of 1.3 billion, has yet to reach 22 percent penetration rate, the threshold that qualifies it as a massively adopted technology. While arguing about the lifetime scope of the available IPv4 address space, the Internet community aggressively pursues a massive convergence of communication technologies (audio, data, video, and voice) over IP. The community is still debating the urgency of an upgrade to IPv6.

In the year 2030, Earth’s ...

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