In recent years, the popularity of mobile devices such as smart phones, iPads, iPods, Internet radio, DVRs, game consoles, and the like has depleted the global pool of IPv4 addresses, limiting growth opportunities. As the IPv6 protocol compensates for the shortage, ABI Research estimates that worldwide mobile broadband-enabled IPv6 devices will reach one billion by the end of this year.

Many service providers already have IPv6 supported in their core networks and have made significant progress toward supporting IPv6 on their access networks as well. However, compared to their service provider counterparts, enterprise IT departments are lagging behind when it comes to planning for IPv6 traffic.

No two enterprises are exactly alike and may be different in the type and amount of traffic they handle. Further complicating the migration issue is the need for strict service level agreements (SLAs) for mission-critical applications and the available uplink connectivity. These factors affect the selection process to determine which technology works the best for a particular network and has led to multiple competing solutions like NAT64, NAT444, 6rd, DS-Lite, and dual-stacking.

Largely due to the dearth of applications supporting IPv6, IPv6 traffic in enterprise networks is still relatively low. We are currently at the initial stage where traffic is composed mostly of IPv4 with little IPv6. As traffic switches from IPv4, there will be an exponential increase in IPv6 traffic will be seen in enterprises. This means that businesses will have to plan their IPv6 migration strategy very carefully so that they address problems specific to enterprises.

Ixia’s IxVeriWave solutions uniquely allow service providers, equipment manufacturers, and enterprises to perform crucial performance and compatibility testing to ensure successful migration to IPv6 in both public and private infrastructures. IxVeriWave’s WaveTest testing solution furthers Ixia’s end-to-end IPv6 capabilities by providing comprehensive IPv6 testing from the Wi-Fi access point to the IP network core. As the “gold standard” development and deployment testing solution for wireless infrastructures and devices, WaveTest solutions enable the thorough testing of newly-enhanced functionalities, as well as the ability to generate and test how well systems handle IPv6 and IPv4 clients concurrently.

For more information on IxVeriWave and IPv6, see Ixia’s recent press release.