Measuring IPv6 Adoption

TitleMeasuring IPv6 Adoption
Publication TypeConference Paper
Year of Publication2014
AuthorsCzyz, J., Allman M., Zhang J., Iekel-Johnson S., Osterweil E., & Bailey M.
Other Numbers3667
Abstract

After several IPv4 address exhaustion milestones in the last three years, it is becoming apparent that the world is running out of IPv4 addresses, and the adoption of the next generation Internet protocol, IPv6, though nascent, is accelerating. In order to better understand this unique and disruptive transition, we explore twelve metrics using ten global-scale datasets to create the longest and broadest measurement of IPv6 adoption to date. Using this perspective, we find that adoption, relative to IPv4, varies by two orders of magnitude depending on the measure examined and that care must be taken when evaluating adoption metrics in isolation. Further, we find that regional adoption is not uniform. Finally, and perhaps most surprisingly, we find that over the last three years, the nature of IPv6 utilization---in terms of traffic, content, reliance on transition technology, and performance---has shifted dramatically from prior findings, indicating a maturing of the protocol into production mode. We believe IPv6's recent growth and this changing utilization signal a true quantum leap.

Acknowledgment

This work was supported in part by the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate under contract numbers FA8750-12-2-0314, and FA8750-12-2-0235; the National Science Foundation under contract numbers: (each CNS-) 0751116, 1111672, 1111699, 1213157, 1255153, 1330142, 08311174; and the Department of the Navy under contract N000.14-09-1-1042. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors or originators and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or the U.S. government.

URLhttps://www.icsi.berkeley.edu/pubs/networking/measuringIPv6.pdf
Bibliographic Notes

Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the ACM Special Interest Group on Data Communication (SIGCOMM 2013), Chicago, Illinois

Abbreviated Authors

J. Czyz, M. Allman, J. Zhang, S. Iekel-Johnson, E. Osterweil, and M. Bailey

ICSI Research Group

Networking and Security

ICSI Publication Type

Article in conference proceedings