[ppml] IPv6>>32

[Michael.Dillon at radianz.com]

> > Some people will switch providers on a daily basis.
> 
> I am somewhat skeptical that people will switch providers as you 
> suggest when it takes end-user intervention to implement that 
> switch.  Renumbering remains a non-trivial exercise.  Connections 
> break.  Firewall rules change.  Network management objects have to be 
> updated.  Etc. Until renumbering is addressed (no pun intended), I 
> suspect the scenarios of *ANs switching providers rapidly will remain 
> a fantasy.

All those problems will be solved when people realise that they
need to be solved to run IP networks in airplanes, buses, trains,
cars, freight trucks, delivery vans, etc. The expansion of Wi-Fi
Internet access combined with on-board IP networks will drive the
innovation. Look at IPv4. When renumbering became a problem, some
people created a new protcol, DHCP and created the software needed
to make automatic renumbering work. I myself use it to change providers
twice every day when my laptop moves from my home to my office and
back again. I am confident that the IPv6 world will solve this
problem too.

> > I think we are allocating less than in the past. In IPv4 we give
> > a new ISP 20 bits of address space. In IPv6 we give him 32 bits
> > in his prefix. Therefore the IPv6 ISP is getting a much smaller
> > fraction of the total address space than the IPv4 ISP.
> 
> Lies, damn lies, and fractions of address space.  While what you say 
> might be true, it is irrelevant.  As far as I'm aware, no ISP (or 
> anyone else, with the possible exception of the ITU) views the amount 
> of address space they manage in terms of the fraction of total 
> address space

You are wrong there. If by ITU you are referring to phone numbers, that
number space is unlimited because they can add digits. So they cannot 
concern
themselves with fractions of total space. But if you read some of 
Geoff Huston's work you will see that there are people who do concern
themselves with fractions of IPv4 and IPv6 space. The entire IPv6
addressing plan, e.g. choice of 2000://3 and /48 boundaries, was made
after considering fractions of the IPv6 space.

--Michael Dillon