[Wiltshire] August meeting

[David Fletcher]

Something I keep wondering about because it will be happening sometime in the 
future but I've no idea when, because nobody seems to be taking any interest 
in something so fundamental, is IPV6.

If anybody has any expertise on the subject, it might be good to spend a 
little time telling the rest of us.

Specifically:-

As far as I know, even though IPV6 has been available on operating systems for 
quite a while, ISPs are showing no interest in implementing it on their 
broadband services. Why?

Manufacturers of consumer internet routers do not appear to be implementing 
IPV6 on their products. Why?

When it eventually becomes possible to buy an IPV6 enabled consumer level 
router, or run a firmware update to obtain IPV6, and ISPs are providing the 
service, what impact will it have on the likes of us?

We are all used to having NAT on our routers. I understand that it is there as 
a consequence of not having enough IPV4 addresses for every computer in the 
world. Given that it has the effect of hiding the real IP address of a 
computer, it seems to me to be a nice feature to have for security. Will it 
vanish along with IPV4?

What will happen with private networks? Wikipedia states that IPV6 has a built 
in provision for these. Will they operate in a similar fashion with an IPV6 
version of NAT?

Will every Internet user be able to purchase a block of IPV6 addresses for 
personal use? In that case, does every computer become, effectively, directly 
connected to the Internet, and completely dependent for security on its own 
firewall? In this case will the router be replaced by something more like an 
ethernet switch?

And, just as an afterthought, what happened to IPV5?

See you all at the next meeting.

Dave