What Does the Transition from IPv4 to IPv6 Mean for Broadcasters?
By Rob Scott
December 29, 2011
December 29, 2011
- The migration from Internet Protocol version four (IPv4) to Internet Protocol version six (IPv6) has already been underway for over a decade, reports TVTechnology.
- “The current system, which uses 32 bit IP addresses, is being replaced with a system that uses 128 bit IP addresses. IPv6 also uses a completely different packet header than IPv4,” indicates the article. “These differences mean that IPv4 devices cannot communicate with IPv6 websites and vice-versa. Fortunately, both protocols can work over existing Ethernet and other low-level networking technologies, so there is no need to replace the physical infrastructure of LANs or carrier networks.”
- Content providers, including broadcasters that run websites, may one day need to address users who only have IPv6 addresses. “To support these users, many websites are employing a ‘dual-stack’ approach, where Web servers are configured to have interfaces for both IPv4 and IPv6 traffic.”
- Additional challenges for broadcast facilities include “the added overhead of the larger IP packet headers,” and “the cost in both time and support fees that could be required to update and verify all of the specialized equipment used inside a broadcast facility, including video file servers and editing workstations.”
- The transition to IP V6 will be like a slow Y2K event. It will enable major opportunities in tagging content and devices, but it will not be fully backward compatible with existing Web data, formats, and metadata.
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