An overview of the motivations for and challenges of IPv6
deployment, and strategies for beginning a reliable,
cost effective IPv6 deployment

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 THE DRIVER FOR IPV6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 IPV6 DEPLOYMENT AROUND THE WORLD. . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Japan and South Korea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 China and India. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 United States. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Europe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Developing Nations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Design. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Inventory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Methodology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Milestones. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Vendor Evaluation and Selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Design and Interoperability Testing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Training. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Cost and Risk Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Project Executables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Dual Stacks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Manually Conf gured Tunnels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Automatic Tunnels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Translators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Recent Developments in Implementation Mechanisms. . . . . . . . 23

CONCLUSION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 FOR MORE INFORMATION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 ABOUT JUNIPER NETWORKS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

IPv6 is coming, whether we like it or not. It isn\u2019t a matter o\ue001 new \ue001eatures or
\u201ckiller applications,\u201d although those may come with time. Rather, it is the rapid
depletion o\ue001 the remaining IPv4 addresses that is leaving IPv6 as the only
\ue001easible alternative \ue001or the continued growth o\ue001 networks beyond the next \ue001ew
years. Governments and service providers in many regions o\ue001 the world have
been cognizant o\ue001 this \ue001act \ue001or years, and are currently in various stages o\ue001
planning \ue001or IP6 deployment in their networks.

With thorough, clear planning IPv6 can be deployed sa\ue001ely and within acceptable
costs. Understanding the elements o\ue001 a good deployment plan is essential,
however, as is an understanding o\ue001 the various mechanisms and methodologies
available \ue001or IPv6 implementation. Juniper Networks is the acknowledged leader
in high-per\ue001ormance, low-risk IPv6 deployment, with a rich set o\ue001 IPv6 \ue001eatures
available in all JUNOS-based plat\ue001orms.

IPv6 is receiving escalating attention within the networking industry. Where
only a \ue001ew years ago there was widespread doubt as to whether IPv6 would
ever be adopted, the meetings o\ue001 network operators \ue001orums such as the North
American Network Operators\u2019 Group (NANOG), the Asia Pacifc Regional Internet
Con\ue001erence on Operational Technologies (APRICOT) and R\u00e9seaux IP Europ\u00e9ens
(RIPE) now devote substantial portions o\ue001 their agendas to discussions o\ue001
how to best implement the new protocol. Where a \ue001ew years ago resistance
to IPv6 centered on the lack o\ue001 a business case, organizations worldwide are
now devoting signifcant fnancial and engineering resources to IPv6 planning.
And where a \ue001ew years ago even those who advocated IPv6 were casual
about transition timelines, there is now a growing sense o\ue001 urgency around its

Most o\ue001 the standards that comprise the IPv6 protocol suite have been around \ue001or since the mid 1990s. What, then, is behind the suddenly intense interest in its deployment and the growing stress on deploying sooner rather than later? Is this interest justifed, and should you also be thinking about deployment? How do you determine whether IPv6 is important \ue001or your own network?

I\ue001 you conclude that you should be concerned, how do you begin planning an IPv6 deployment? What \ue001actors and considerations comprise a deployment project? How do you identi\ue001y \u2013 and avoid \u2013 pit\ue001alls?