The Coming IP6 Testing Crisis

One thing that has become more apparent in the past year is how critical IP addresses have become for various applications. Whether it’s for Web collaboration or unified communications, the IP address has now become embedded in the application.

Unfortunately, we’re running out of IP4 addresses, so we’ve begun this long-awaited, evolutionary shift to IP6. But as Mu Dynamics CEO Dave Kresse points out, the shift to IP6 is going to require just about every application that relies on IP4 addresses today to be tested when that application inevitably moves to IP6.

Kresse admits to being a little ahead of the curve in terms of sounding the alarm on this one. But when you think about the number of applications involved, and the fact that a Federal government deadline for testing products for IP6 compatibility is July 1, getting ready to test a raft of applications for IP6 compatibility might be on the IT agenda a lot sooner than anybody realizes.

Naturally, Mu Dynamics as a provider of testing tools has a vested interest in this discussion. But the fact remains that a wholesale shift to IP6 does create a lot of potential testing challenges that will not only challenge the people who manage the networks, but also the people who build the applications that now depend so heavily on those networks.