[arin-ppml] Comprehensive Study Shows IPv6 Shift Isn't Happening

[Iljitsch van Beijnum]

On 24 aug 2008, at 21:43, Cliff Bedore wrote:

> http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2328258,00.asp

They talk about the IETF meeting creating a spike. We had 3 Mbps  
traffic when IPv4 was turned off. That's not even on Arbor's IPv6 radar.

> I found the last paragraph interesting

> "Craig Labovitz, chief scientist at Arbor, also said there are also
> discussions going on to make the remaining IPv4 address blocks  
> available on
> the open market, where they could essentially be auctioned off."

I find it extremely uninteresting.

An IPv4 market would be unfair (1) and unhelpful (2). We need IPv6 at  
some point anyway, delaying the inevitable won't do us any favors.  
However, the only thing that counts is how much IPv6 traffic there  
will be the day after the last IPv4 address is given out, IPv6 traffic  
before that is of no consequence.

1 It creates an undeserved windfall for companies and organizations  
that happen to be sitting on large amounts of v4 address space and it  
would mean a flow of money from poor regions of the world to rich ones.

2 All this talk about address trading means nobody will want to give  
them back for free, and market economics in a market with limited  
supply and high demand implies not only high prices but also  
unpredictability (the last thing that we need) and all kinds of  
unwanted behavior such as hoarding.