Advantages of IPv6 over IPv4

♤ IPv6 solves the IPv4 public address depletion problem by providing an address space to last well. The business benefit of moving to IPv6 is that mobile cell phones, personal data assistants (PDAs), automobiles, appliances, and even people can be assigned multiple globally reachable addresses.

♤ Connectivity between disjoint networks requires intermediate devices such as NATs or proxy servers. With IPv6, both homes and enterprises will be assigned global address prefixes and can seamlessly connect, subject to security restrictions such as firewall filtering and authenticated communication.

♤ With IPv6, public address prefixes are assigned to regional Internet registries, which, in turn, assign address prefixes to other ISPs and organizations based on justified need. This new address allocation practice ensures that address prefixes will be distributed globally based on regional connectivity needs, rather than by historical origin.

♤ With IPv6, NATs are no longer necessary to conserve public address space, and the problems associated with mapping addresses and ports disappear for developers of applications and gateways.

♤ Unlike IPv4 addresses, IPv6 addresses have a scope, or a defined area of the network over which they are unique and relevant.

♤ IPv6 is a streamlined version of IPv4. Excluding prioritized delivery traffic, IPv6 has fewer fields to process and fewer decisions to make in forwarding an IPv6 packet.

♤ The result of designing IPv6 with security and mobility in mind is an implementation that is a defined standard, has fewer limitations, and is more robust and scalable to handle the current and future communication needs of the users of the Internet.