[VoiceOps] IPV6

[Jeff McAdams]

Daryl G. Jurbala wrote:
> So, you can take ARIN fees off of my list.  The rest still stands.

OK, so let's go back to the original list:

L3 routing/firewalling upgrades required, specifically mentioned was 
6509 and 7206VXR.

Someone else commented that the 7206VXRs were CEF switching IPv6, and I 
can confirm that the 6509's L3 switch IPv6 in hardware as well.  The 
only caveat is finding the right firmware that has it with the mix of 
line cards that you have in your chassis.  Overall, however, the 
platform does support it.  Obviously Cisco has a *huge* product line, 
and I doubt we'll ever get a full accounting of what does and doesn't do 
IPv6 "in hardware" on this list, but to claim that you have to replace 
all of your hardware, is certainly a large exaggeration.

ISP support

Most of the major Internet backbone providers offer IPv6 support of some 
sort, admittedly not all do, but most do.  Ask your providers and 
there's a good chance they can deliver it to you.  Yes, some are still 
doing tunnels for it, but they do work well.  Besides, you're presenting 
a false dichotomy, if you go digging, there's a decent chance that your 
IPv4 traffic is also using a tunneling technology within your providers' 
networks as well, frequently MPLS.  Tunneling IPv6 in IPv4 is not 
fundamentally different.

ARIN support

This one has already been covered.

SBC support

This was part of the whole point of the thread.  Why hasn't the voice 
industry adopted IPv6 more aggressively?  I was including the SBC (and 
other gear and software) vendors in the voice industry there.  Yes, this 
is probably the only real obstacle you presented that would prevent 
voice operators (admittedly the focus of this list) from really 
deploying IPv6 aggressively, but I will say that my commentary was 
commentary about the overall industry, including the gear and software 
vendors.



Seriously, IPv6 makes so many things work so much easier...just in 
eliminating NAT, particularly for SIP...that, yeah, I think its a 
no-brainer to be working towards this.  Maybe its not feasible to get it 
running in a production level today, but if you've got vendors 
roadblocking you from getting there, they should be hearing from you 
that its just not acceptable.  The payoff (particularly for VoIP 
protocols) is just too great.

-- 
Jeff McAdams
jeffm at iglou.com