IPv6 Address Planning

Chapter 3. Planning Your IPv6 Deployment

Introduction

Creating an IPv6 address plan is one of the most critical requirements for effectively adopting IPv6. But, of course, it’s not the only one. So what else goes into a successful IPv6 deployment effort? Most organizations that succeed in adopting IPv6 take advantage of a relatively small number of reliable strategies and practices. In the following chapter, we’ll explore these approaches and help you to align them with your own efforts. We’ll discuss:

• The IPv6 business case you already have
• IPv6 as a cross-functional initiative
• A phased approach to IPv6 adoption

The IPv6 Business Case You Already Have

If you ask them, IT managers and executives will likely insist that they have been looking high and low—from the very beginning of time, even—for the elusive phantom known as The Business Case for IPv6 Adoption. This Business Case demonstrates the overwhelming and undeniable benefits of adopting IPv6: better network performance and security, lowered cost for IT operations, fresher breath, and World Peace™. But they haven’t found it, so you should quit asking for a budget or additional personnel to deploy IPv6 (and please shut the door on your way out).

There are various reasons for the lack of an incontrovertible business case for IPv6 adoption. For one thing, although IT environments may utilize many common standards, hardware, software, and operational practices, it would still be difficult to prove a consistent and ...