Computers & Electronics

IPV6 Transition and Money to be Made?

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  • Mar 8th, 2011 9:33 am
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Dec 26, 2007
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IPV6 Transition and Money to be Made?

News today that the last block of IPV4 addresses will be given out today, meaning that we definitely have to upgrade to IPV6, and Internet companies are scrambling to deal with this.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20029 ... ag=nl.e703

This got me thinking (actually thought about it for a while), this transition to IPV6 may spell profit for us in the stock market. I'm not an expert on IPV6 and the backend operations, so I defer to those with the expertise. Which companies would be market leaders in this IPV6 transition? Google is definitely one, but what about other smaller companies? Also, what other support/auxiliary (e.g. software/hardware) activities are there associated with IPV6, and which companies are in position to benefit from it?

This IPV6 transition is going to be very important, and if certain companies can take the lead in this market, buying their shares now would be a good investment.
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cisco/junpiter/all other router makers
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Google has practically *nothing* to do with IPV6.

Generally speaking, the money is to be made in infrastructure hardware, software, and services. Actual new gear that is needed for IPV6 is minimal, but substantial amounts of software and systems will need minor modifications in order to work with IPV6 effectively.

Basically, I'd put my money on hardware builders, and software vendors.
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Telcom providers that are IPV6 ready and compatible may be an option. The first to hit the market with a solution may gain customers. The race is on
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sexyj wrote: cisco/junpiter/all other router makers

I checked Juniper, their stock is a micro-penny stock and not listed in an exchange. Anything else you can suggest? Also, what are the roles of routers in IPV6 deployment?
Mark77 wrote: Google has practically *nothing* to do with IPV6.

Generally speaking, the money is to be made in infrastructure hardware, software, and services. Actual new gear that is needed for IPV6 is minimal, but substantial amounts of software and systems will need minor modifications in order to work with IPV6 effectively.

Basically, I'd put my money on hardware builders, and software vendors.
What types of hardware and software does IPV6 need? Would it be browser-related, network card or routers? Also, is it mostly B2B and not much consumer involvement? Some recommendations on which builders would be great too.
riz1 wrote: Telcom providers that are IPV6 ready and compatible may be an option. The first to hit the market with a solution may gain customers. The race is on

Exactly, and the early we can get on board this IPV6 market leader and share some of the benefits the richer we will be. Which Telcom providers are ready, or are a step ahead of the pack now?
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jcmkl wrote: What types of hardware and software does IPV6 need? Would it be browser-related, network card or routers? Also, is it mostly B2B and not much consumer involvement? Some recommendations on which builders would be great too.
Practically speaking, all WindowsXP-running machines are incompatible with IPV6, including virtual machines. Most computers out there in businesses can be upgraded to Windows7 (which obviously should be okay for Microsoft's earnings).

No network cards would need upgrading.

All "home" networking gear will need to be replaced.

High-end routers just need firmware updates or reconfiguration by a qualified professional. Lower-end customer routers will need replacement in many/most circumstances.

I'm not so certain that big firms will do all that well on the transition, but certainly, if one has expertise in network engineering, telecom engineering, etc., these skills will be highly in demand across the entire spectrum of Internet users.

Many businesses will use the transition as, for instance, an opportunity to replace obsolete equipment, processes, etc. For instance, when industry was assessing its Y2k problems over 10 years ago, many systems were replaced, not because of year 2000 compliance, but rather, to bring them up to a higher standard, and to roll out GUIs where GUIs did not exist before.
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Mark77 wrote: Practically speaking, all WindowsXP-running machines are incompatible with IPV6, including virtual machines.

News to me: my XP machine works fine with IPV6 except that it doesn't support IPSEC.
All "home" networking gear will need to be replaced.
Some home routers will need to be replaced, others will need a firmware upgrade. Switches shouldn't care, and I was surprised to discover that the wireless AP in our router handles IPV6 with no problems.
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The "very large" company I work in is going IPV6 on their "outward facing" systems first. We're doing IPv6 beta testing now, plan a few pilot points this fall and full conversion for all external facing systems within 12 months. All internal workstations, Nework Devices will continue to use existing IPV4. To save conversion "headches", we plan to let other companies migrate their internal IPV4 to IPV6 systems first. Let them overcome hurdles, post their tips / traps, etc. etc. first. The company I work for will only convert their internal IP systems from existing IPV4 to IPV6 "when they must". I'm sure many other medium to large companies are the same. re: Let the little companies break the ice first....
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this is going to be a huge money maker.

however the biggest problem is large corporations still holding on to huge amounts of ipv4 IP ranges that are not being used at all.
they need to sell these off first.
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A lot of all of this is already baked into the price.... especially for the equipment makers. Running out of IPs using IPv4 was known years ago... that's why IPv6 was created.

Where there will be money to be made are the consultants who are brought in because companies can't or won't update certain systems to IPv6 - like older legacy systems which can't be upgraded because there is no upgrade path. These old legacy systems will still need to talk to the outside world.
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craftsman wrote: A lot of all of this is already baked into the price.... especially for the equipment makers. Running out of IPs using IPv4 was known years ago... that's why IPv6 was created.

Where there will be money to be made are the consultants who are brought in because companies can't or won't update certain systems to IPv6 - like older legacy systems which can't be upgraded because there is no upgrade path. These old legacy systems will still need to talk to the outside world.

There are always dual stack routers available.
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Mark77 wrote: Practically speaking, all WindowsXP-running machines are incompatible with IPV6, including virtual machines. Most computers out there in businesses can be upgraded to Windows7 (which obviously should be okay for Microsoft's earnings).

No network cards would need upgrading.

All "home" networking gear will need to be replaced.

High-end routers just need firmware updates or reconfiguration by a qualified professional. Lower-end customer routers will need replacement in many/most circumstances.

I'm not so certain that big firms will do all that well on the transition, but certainly, if one has expertise in network engineering, telecom engineering, etc., these skills will be highly in demand across the entire spectrum of Internet users.

Many businesses will use the transition as, for instance, an opportunity to replace obsolete equipment, processes, etc. For instance, when industry was assessing its Y2k problems over 10 years ago, many systems were replaced, not because of year 2000 compliance, but rather, to bring them up to a higher standard, and to roll out GUIs where GUIs did not exist before.
So what you are saying is that companies like Cisco and HP would benefit on the business side because they have the expertise in networking and the hardware to do the job, right? What about home consumers?
Spike99 wrote: The "very large" company I work in is going IPV6 on their "outward facing" systems first. We're doing IPv6 beta testing now, plan a few pilot points this fall and full conversion for all external facing systems within 12 months. All internal workstations, Nework Devices will continue to use existing IPV4. To save conversion "headches", we plan to let other companies migrate their internal IPV4 to IPV6 systems first. Let them overcome hurdles, post their tips / traps, etc. etc. first. The company I work for will only convert their internal IP systems from existing IPV4 to IPV6 "when they must". I'm sure many other medium to large companies are the same. re: Let the little companies break the ice first....

For your company, what kind of investment did they put in? If assuming all big companies do this, would the total purchase make enough of a mark to raise their stock prices? Also, if I may ask, which companies did you company hire for these jobs?
craftsman wrote: A lot of all of this is already baked into the price.... especially for the equipment makers. Running out of IPs using IPv4 was known years ago... that's why IPv6 was created.

Where there will be money to be made are the consultants who are brought in because companies can't or won't update certain systems to IPv6 - like older legacy systems which can't be upgraded because there is no upgrade path. These old legacy systems will still need to talk to the outside world.

So IT consultants from the tech companies and Accenture is going to be making a lot of money? Maybe I'll switch careers. But for these large companies the money gained from IPV6 conversion consulting is probably going to be so little that it wouldn't affect their stocks. Any smaller companies specializing in IPV6 that could take advantage of this?

p.s. 100th post!
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jcmkl wrote: So what you are saying is that companies like Cisco and HP would benefit on the business side because they have the expertise in networking and the hardware to do the job, right? What about home consumers?
I don't know about Cisco per se (most of their products have been IPV6 compatible for years, including their expensive enterprise-class stuff), but certainly, there's a good deal of money made by being a network engineer responsible for reconfiguring everything.
So IT consultants from the tech companies and Accenture is going to be making a lot of money? Perhaps it's time to switch careers.

Accenture is more of an applications consultant, not really into IT infrastructure per se, although I'm sure they'll build it. IPV6 won't require a lot of labour to implement, but it will require some reasonably bright people, usually engineers.
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jcmkl.

Unknown to some, company stock prices have nothing to do with a company using IPV4 or IPV6. However... If a large company tries to convert to IPV6 and falls flat on its face, their stock prices dive downward. Downward because the company crashed its billing and internal communication systems. Always remember that "stock prices" are hugely influenced by company reputation, RIO and "stability". As stated above, let the little ma/pa companies convert to IPV6. Let them "boil out" the lessons learned and growing pains first. Then, let the medium companies change next. Then, my bigger company will change to IP V6 (for its internal systems) next. Since being "leading edge" in some IS/IT areas has high business risks, my larger company will let other companies break the ice first.

Do you remember the hype (over hype) about Y2000 cross-over and all the negative hype that went with it? Media frenzy and huge amounts of study, prep, overtime dollars wasted on it. My large company is waiting for small / medium companies to covert from IPV4 to IPV6 first. From their "cost conversions" and lessons learned, my large company will implement the proper planning and financial depth. So far, we're only seeing hype and speculation. Especially since we use common "supported" Cisco & Juniper network hardware anyway. We need facts (pure facts) before pressing the GO button. I'm sure many other vary large companies are doing the same. re: Understanding before re-acting.... It's the smart thing to do....

.
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i thought we weren't allowed stock advice on RFD?
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I don't get it, isn't this old news? Hasn't all the hardware/software been already put into place, in which case it's waaay too late to profit from this?

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i've bee doing lots of research lately on IPv6 transition and it is very interesting. there are a few players in the game...your typical network security and architecture players like cisco, juniper.

For people that want an overview on IPv6 i suggest you guys watch some videos on youtube...you can get a pretty decent understanding of this huge change that is about to take place...or you can search for a webinar or tutorial online that will explain the more in depth corporate affect and from a techie/network professional perspective.

i'll search for some webinars about to happen and post some. I joined on seminar a few weeks ago and learned a lot. here is a good intro article IPv6 in - IPv4 is history
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If there's IPv6 money to be made its in the ISP/internet side of things. There really is no reason right now that I can think of to upgrade corporate networks to ipv6, its unnecessary. Sure, maybe the internet has run out of addressing space, but you have to have a monster of a company to be running out of internal, private addressing space. Does a company that size even exist?

I doubt upgrading corporate networks from ipv4 to v6 is high up on anybodies to do list, I know its certainly not on our radar...not even a little bit. The WAN guys in our group are all up to speed on ipv6 but the most they're going to have to do with it in the foreseeable future is some routing between our corporate network and internet. Or in other words, not a whole lot.
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zonetbh wrote: If there's IPv6 money to be made its in the ISP/internet side of things. There really is no reason right now that I can think of to upgrade corporate networks to ipv6, its unnecessary. Sure, maybe the internet has run out of addressing space, but you have to have a monster of a company to be running out of internal, private addressing space. Does a company that size even exist?

I doubt upgrading corporate networks from ipv4 to v6 is high up on anybodies to do list, I know its certainly not on our radar...not even a little bit. The WAN guys in our group are all up to speed on ipv6 but the most they're going to have to do with it in the foreseeable future is some routing between our corporate network and internet. Or in other words, not a whole lot.

i think ipv6 will impact big companies in the form of management. will their current apps and workflows accomodate the transition to ipv6?

i think ipv6 will be pretty big due to the fact that it is in India and China. it becomes an issue of compliance

UPDATE: found a webinar about to take place on IPv6 called 6 steps to IPv6 Readiness ...

zonetch it should be interesting what they say in this webinar about corporations since the main point in the webinar is "The benefits of deploying IPv6 now – the longer you wait, the more expensive the transition will be"

im not an expoert in network managmeent and architecture but i have some exposure to it
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ediasn wrote: i think ipv6 will impact big companies in the form of management. will their current apps and workflows accomodate the transition to ipv6?

i think ipv6 will be pretty big due to the fact that it is in India and China. it becomes an issue of compliance

UPDATE: found a webinar about to take place on IPv6 called 6 steps to IPv6 Readiness ...

zonetch it should be interesting what they say in this webinar about corporations since the main point in the webinar is "The benefits of deploying IPv6 now – the longer you wait, the more expensive the transition will be"

im not an expoert in network managmeent and architecture but i have some exposure to it

I just question what the point is of a corporate network to move from ipv4 to ipv6. I ask because I really would love to know if there is one that im not aware of.

With current ipv4 private addressing you can have a total of almost 18 million addresses in the same address space, I believe. How many companies out there need 18 million addresses for their IT infrastructure? I doubt any do.

The company I work for has roughly 8,000 employees and has a fairly aggressive IT department in terms of pushing out new technology, and we're in the tens of thousands of used addresses. Not hundreds of thousands let alone millions. For us to bother moving to ipv6 internally there would have to be a significant advantage OUTSIDE of "more possible addresses" to justify the work. Is there one? :eek:

There ARE much larger companies then ours out there obviously, but are they coming anywhere even remotely close to utilizing every last private v4 address? I would be interested to know, but my guess would be no.

As it stands right now, at least with my limited knowledge of ipv6 (im more an application layer kinda guy), I could see us never bothering to upgrade to ipv6 internally and just waiting for the next ipv? or even a successor to the ip protocol, assuming they offer significant benefits outside of just the ability to produce more addressing.

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