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Overview: IPv4 Transition to IPv6
What does this mean for Penn State?
IPv6 Overview
Overview: IPv4 Transition to IPv6
The Transmission Control Protocol and the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) are a suite of computer communications protocols designed almost twenty years ago to interconnect U.S. Government Computers. The Internet Protocol Penn State currently uses, version 4, is a result of that work. Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) is documented in RFC791. IPv4 has grown to become the computer industry's de facto network protocol standard.
The designers of IPv4 provisioned 32 bits to uniquely identify a machine's Internet address. Thirty-two bits provides for more than 4 billion unique addresses. However, the designers did not anticipate the extreme popularity of computer networking. They did not foresee the explosive growth of the Internet and the resulting need for more Internet addresses.
As a result, in late 1990, The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) began its effort to select a successor to IPv4 when projections indicated that the Internet address space would become an increasingly limiting resource. Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is a result of that effort.
IPv6's designers provisioned 128 bits for the address. This number of bits allow for more than 3.4 x 1038 unique addresses (IPv4 accommodates more than 4.3 x 109 unique addresses). The designers, in addition to greatly expanding the address space, provided other enhanced features in IPv6 such as flexibility, extensibility, quality of service support, and security support.
What does this mean for Penn State?
Penn State's IPv6 network protocol upgrade will help pave the way for future service enhancements available via the University's Integrated Backbone and to the Abilene Network (Abilene is Internet2's dedicated high-speed performance super-computing backbone network). These services will enable students, faculty and staff to better conduct real-time communications and applications over the University's network by allowing multimedia traffic such as live voice and video transmissions to coexist with traditional data traffic on the same network.
IPv6 is also equipped to facilitate real-time quality of service applications dealing with Internet activity such as overseas distance education programs, or high-end research applications between faculty members seeking to expand their online collaborations with researchers in other nations - where IPv6 is prevalent.
With the deployment of IPv6, Penn State is staying ahead of the curve and will be prepared to support more extensive IPv6 services and applications when they are developed and the demand becomes significant.
Because the new protocol is an emerging technology, IPv6 is expected to slowly replace IPv4 over a number of years, with the two existing side-by-side during the University's extended transition period.
See the TNS Internet Protocol Address Assignment Web site for more information.
The IPv6 Information Web site and the KAME Project Web site also provides good information pertaining to IPv6.
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07/27/07