It is no secret that IPv6 is being adopted around the world. While the overall adaptation rate is fairly low (20% worldwide), service providers (mobile carriers, landline carriers, ISPs, etc) are scrambling to add support for it.

Now why would you want IPv6 in your network?

With devices (Android and iOS) being already IPv6 compatible, service providers around the world are rapidly deploying IPv6 infrastructure all the way to the edge device. IPv6 resolves the annoying issue of NAT and other network access restrictions – specifically when dealing with real-time protocols like SIP and RTP.

The most obvious advantage for service providers is it allows interconnecting more devices, without any need for network translation. This enables support for IoT devices as well as other devices.

Some of the advantages are:

• In terms of network design and management it allows for more efficient routing and reduced routing tables.
• Simplified Network Configuration enables better monitoring and troubleshooting.
• IPv6 has built in IPSec to add an additional level security to your network and connections.

Now why would you want IPv6 in your mobile device?

Back in 2003 a panel of experts at CES laid out some consumer benefits of IPv6. The biggest advantages to consumers could be that it would improve the speed of internet access and extend battery life:

• Accessing sites and content over the Internet is usually faster with IPv6 than with IPv4 because with the new protocol it requires fewer “hops” between network nodes, according to Latif Ladid, president of the IPv6 Forum.
• Devices get temporary IPv4 addresses, applications have to keep telling the carrier that the temporary IP address is still in use. Sending those “keep alive” packets back and forth consumes battery life and network capacity, Ladid said.

These projections were confirmed in 2016 by two engineers working for Google and Cisco in a research paper written for the Internet Engineering Task Force.

In this paper they point out that excessive administrative messages “can affect the battery life of a wide range of devices including smartphones, tablets, smartwatches and IoT devices like smart thermostats, smart security systems and smart lighting.” (International Business Times article).

Apple™ had recently started rejecting new applications being submitted, if these do not support IPv6 correctly – with a very clear premise, if you don’t support IPv6, you have no place in the network.

IPv6 in the Cloudonix

As part of our commitment, Greenfield had adopted both our platform and our mobile SDKs’ to support IPv6 fully. This means, that unlike other companies that only support IPv6 on the edges (in their mobile app or SDK), the Cloudonix platform and cloud support end-to-end IPv6.

In addition, we are able to interconnect IPv6 and IPv4 seamlessly, removing the requirement for a NAT64 complexity. This is now supported on all our product offerings and will be rolled out to customers as required.