Over the past decade, ISPs and hosting companies have been gradually rolling out IPv6, the headline benefit of which is to extend the number of available IP addresses (IPv4 allows for around 4 billion addresses, which seemed more than enough back in 1982).
If you have a web application, you need to start the process of adopting IPv6 now. Although IPv4 will be around for a while yet, there will come a time when some visitors can only access your application via IPv6, and some hosting providers are already introducing extra charges for IPv4 addresses.
The cost of adopting IPv6 varies – in some cases it involves adding one or two extra DNS records, but you may also need to make changes to your web application and infrastructure. Fortunately you can run IPv4 and IPv6 in parallel at minimal extra cost.
I’ve helped a number of clients adopt IPv6, and offer three services for this:
Readiness report: I go through your web application and infrastructure to identify the changes needed to adopt IPv6, and produce a short report outlining estimated costs and risks so that you can make an informed decision.
Assisted adoption. I assist and advise you on the process of adopting IPv6. This is a suitable option if you have an existing development resource but are not familiar with IPv6.
Managed adoption: I manage the process of adopting IPv6 for you, including any changes required to your web application and infrastructure.
Please get in touch if you would like to find out more about any of these services.