IP Infusion addresses IPv6 backward compatibility issues

A new software offering launched today aims to address backward compatibility problems that have kept IPv6 from being more widely adopted. The offering, ZebOS Rapid Deployment from IP Infusion, is based on IPv6rd specifications that allow IPv6 traffic to transit traditional IP networks that use IPv4 by encapsulating IPv6 packets into IPv4 packets. (The “rd” suffix stands for “rapid deployment.”)

Some industry experts have been predicting the exhaustion of IPv4 addresses. Yet an August 2009 study from Arbor Networks showed that only about 1% of Internet traffic used IPv6. Backward incompatibility problems are believed to be the main reason more network operators have not made the move to IPv6.

IPv6 encapsulation is a better approach to addressing those issues than other options such as address sharing and network translation technologies such as LSN and NAT444 because it is more scaleable, Shane Rigby, vice president of global sales for IP Infusion told Connected Planet. “In addition these technologies do not support some critical applications such as telephony, net games and in particular, other data-rich applications,” he said.

The IPv6rd specifications were developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force but do not include accounting and filtering functions, which IP Infusion has added to its offering, Rigby said. “Both of these functions are important in order for carriers to deploy a new IPv6 service by using 6rd,” he said.

IP Infusion is targeting network operators as well as equipment providers with its offering. The company already has one customer—BBIX Inc., operator of a Japanese Internet exchange. BBIX plans to use the technology to launch an IPv6 roaming service for Internet service providers.

Rigby said IP Infusion’s offering is the first carrier grade offering of its kind, but he expects to have competitors in this market.