IPv6 Readiness in the Communication Service Provider Industry

Transcription

1 IPv6 Readiness in the Communication Service Provider Industry An Incognito Software Report Published April 2014 Executive Summary... 2 Methodology and Respondent Profile... 3 Methodology... 3 Respondent Profile... 3 Limitations Over 3/4 of Service Providers are Currently Transitioning to IPv The Lack of IPv4 Resources is Driving IPv6 Adoption... 6 Regional Reasons for Adopting IPv Executive Buy-in is a Key Driver of IPv6 Migration... 8 Dual-Stack Deployment is the Preferred Method of Transition... 9 IPv6 Comprehension is Mixed... 9 CPE Upgrades Top the List of IPv6 Challenges IPv6 Adoption Does Not Occur Overnight Adoption Could Take Longer than Expected Companies Slow to Start Testing and Implementing IPv6 Tasks Low Rate of IPAM Adoption Recommendations and Conclusions Appendix A: Supporting Graphs for IPv6 Tasks... 17

2 Executive Summary Executive Summary Globally, IPv4 addresses are running out and service providers are being driven to find ways to stretch existing resources. The transition to a new IP protocol, IPv6, has begun in earnest, but how far do we have to go for worldwide IPv6 adoption? This report attempts to outline the extent of IPv6 readiness in the worldwide communication service provider industry. Furthermore, it seeks to quantify the preparations that are currently underway, and gain insight into how the cable and telecommunications industry is preparing for IPv4 exhaustion. Overall, the large majority (90%) of operators understand the benefits of IPv6 and have started preparations for deployment. However, it is clear that there is still a long way to go until IPv6 is fully deployed and available for end users. Only 14% of service providers have completed IPv6 adoption on their own networks, while even fewer (4%) have begun offering IPv6 to their end users. Other findings indicate that not all service providers may have realistic expectations for deployment, with comments from those who have finished indicating a longer process that can be offset by careful planning. Providers still face many barriers to IPv6 adoption, including CPE upgrades, customer education, and infrastructure changes. Executive buy-in appears to be key for IPv6, while tools to facilitate IP address management is recommended once IPv6 is deployed, particularly in dual-stack network environments Incognito Software Inc. All rights reserved. Page 2 of 18

3 Methodology and IPv6 Readiness: Adoption, Comprehension, and Challenges Respondent Profile Methodology and Respondent Profile Methodology In October 2013, Incognito Software opened the IPv6 Readiness survey to cable, wireless, and wireline service providers from around the world. Respondents included existing Incognito Software customers and outside contacts, with invitations to the survey sent via and social media channels, including LinkedIn and Twitter. To ensure the validity of responses, each respondent was asked to provide an address, identify the core function of their business, and select their current stage of IPv6 adoption before access to the survey was granted. Any respondent who did not provide this information or selected I don t know for the initial IPv6 readiness question had their access to the survey terminated. Please note that survey data in this report has been rounded to the nearest percentage and therefore totals may not always equal exactly 100%. Respondent Profile Globally, a total of 72 respondents initially took the survey. However, after analyzing the data, only 51 respondents were deemed acceptable candidates. Responses were removed for several reasons for example, if the respondent did not complete the survey in full, selected I don t know when asked about IPv6 adoption, or was not part of the communication service provider industry (identifying instead as an enterprise, research and development body, or consultant, etc.). Respondents from all over the world participated in the survey: Figure 1: Survey Respondents by Region 2014 Incognito Software Inc. All rights reserved. Page 3 of 18

4 Methodology and IPv6 Readiness: Adoption, Comprehension, and Challenges Respondent Profile Most respondents (67%) have fewer than 1 million subscribers; however, nearly one third have over 1 million subscribers: Figure 2: Survey Respondents by Subscriber Base The majority of respondents came from a cable background. However, wireline, wireless and multinetwork providers were also represented, as were a small number of system integrators, one IP telephony provider, and one satellite provider as identified as other in this report (see Figure 3). Figure 3: Survey Respondents by Type 2014 Incognito Software Inc. All rights reserved. Page 4 of 18

5 Methodology and IPv6 Readiness: Adoption, Comprehension, and Challenges Respondent Profile The vast majority of providers are in mid-adoption or planning phases: Figure 4: Survey Respondents by Stage of Adoption Limitations Due to the low number of respondents who identified as completing IPv6 adoption, this data set should not be considered comprehensive. Rather, these results represent a snapshot in time of the few providers who identified as deploying IPv6 on their networks. Furthermore, not all of the respondents who identified as completing IPv6 adoption have begun offering IPv6 to end customers. Of all respondents, less than 4% have offered IPv6 addresses to their end users, another 4% stated that they will offer IPv6 addresses to end users in the next 6 months, while 6% did not specify when they would be able to offer IPv6 addresses to end users. Likewise, only a small number of respondents had not yet started IPv6 migration and this sample should not be considered a definitive study Incognito Software Inc. All rights reserved. Page 5 of 18

6 Over Three-Quarters of Service Providers are Currently Transitioning to IPv6 Of the survey respondents, 76% were either mid-adoption or actively planning IPv6 adoption, while 14% are IPv6 ready. Only 10% had not started at all. This reflects the high level of awareness of IPv6 in the industry and the fact that the vast majority of service providers have at least started planning for IPv6. The lack of IPv6 readiness across the respondents could be attributed to several factors thorough planning and/or testing processes, long adoption timelines, or difficulty completing implementation. It highlights that it may be several years until IPv6 is widely adopted in the industry. Figure 4: Survey Respondents by Stage of Adoption *Please note: This refers to completion of IPv6 preparation on the service provider s network and does not necessarily mean that the provider has offered IPv6 to end users. Only 4% of all providers surveyed had actually offered IPv6 to end users, while a further 4% are prepared to do so within 6 months, and an additional 6% did not specify when they would be ready to offer IPv6 to customers. The Lack of IPv4 Resources is Driving IPv6 Adoption Overwhelmingly, service providers are adopting IPv6 because they are running out of IPv4 resources. This was consistent across regions, provider types, and provider sizes and in total, 83% of respondents who had completed adoption, are mid-adoption, or currently planning adoption chose to do so because of a lack of available IPv4 resources Incognito Software Inc. All rights reserved. Page 6 of 18

7 Nearly half of all respondents who are IPv6-ready started the transition because of a management mandate, indicating the importance of buy-in within an organization for this transition to take place. Other reasons for adopting IPv6 are listed in Figure 5 below. Figure 5: Reasons for Adopting IPv6 *Does not include those who have not yet started the transition to IPv6 Note: Respondents were able to select more than one answer Regional Reasons for Adopting IPv6 Regionally, the reasons for adopting IPv6 were consistent with the global trend. Providers across the world are running out of IPv4 resources, although some other trends did slightly alter between regions. It is worth noting that there was a higher representation of service providers from North America (NA), and Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) than Latin America (LATAM) and Asia Pacific (APAC). See Table 1 on the next page for a full regional breakdown of results Incognito Software Inc. All rights reserved. Page 7 of 18

8 Table 1: Regional Breakdown of Reasons for Adopting IPv6 Running out of IPv4 resources Don t trust NAT as a long-term solution Lower long-term costs with IPv6 North America Latin America Figure 6: Organizations with Executive IPv6 Buy-in and Support Asia Pacific 75% 86% 100% 64% 44% 57% 33% 23% 38% 14% 17% 27% Customers demanding IPv6 25% 0% 33% 32% Globally accessible IPs for devices 31% 0% 17% 27% New IPv6 features 25% 14% 33% 18% Opportunity to re-architect the network 19% 0% 0% 9% Management mandate 25% 0% 17% 0% Government mandate 6% 0% 33% 14% Europe, Middle East, and Africa The reasons for adopting IPv6 were also consistent across provider types and sizes, with a lack of IPv4 resources driving IPv6 adoption in the majority of cases. Executive Buy-in is a Key Driver of IPv6 Migration IPv6 readiness is highest amongst organizations where there has been a management mandate to be IPv6-ready, with 43% of IPv6 ready organizations implementing IPv6 for this reason. For instance: 2014 Incognito Software Inc. All rights reserved. Page 8 of 18

9 Dual-Stack Deployment is the Preferred Method of Transition Dual-stack deployment (where IPv4 and IPv6 run parallel) remains the preferred method of transition for the majority (90%) of service providers. This is unsurprising, given that hundreds of millions of IPv4 devices are currently in existence. As a result, it will be many years before the industry is able to fully phase out IPv4. While IPv4 and IPv6 will coexist for years to come, dual-stack deployment is not the only method of transition available. A variety of alternatives are currently being used for IPv6 adoption, including 6to4 tunneling and NAT-PT (network address translation port translation). Not all of these methods will be sustainable and may add network complexity. Other methods of transition listed in smaller numbers included 6RD, DNS64, IPv6 only, Hurricane Electric tunnel, NAT64, NAT64 plus RFC 6877, GRE tunneling, Dual-Stack Lite, and RFC6333. Only a small number of respondents are currently offering IPv6 only, and this is represented in the other column in the graph below: Figure 7: Preferred IPv6 Deployment Method IPv6 Comprehension is Mixed Not all service providers understand key terms involved in IPv6, indicating a lack of understanding or experience. The survey asked respondents to list their comprehension of several IPv6 terms. About half of the respondents understood the following terms either well or very well : Prefix Delegation: 56% DHCPv6: 59% SLAAC: 51% Anycast Address: 49% 2014 Incognito Software Inc. All rights reserved. Page 9 of 18

10 However, even some of the aforementioned terms were divisive, with nearly one quarter (23%) selecting either not very well or I don t understand at all for SLAAC (stateless address autoconfiguration). Figure 8: Respondent Comprehension on a Selection of IPv6 Terms CPE Upgrades Top the List of IPv6 Challenges For those who have completed or are beginning IPv6 adoption, there are a number of barriers. Please note that respondents were able to pick more than one response: CPE upgrades: 50% ranked as a large hurdle to adoption Lack of device support: 50% ranked as a large hurdle to adoption Educating customers: 39% ranked as a large hurdle to adoption Training: 28% ranked as a large hurdle to adoption Not seen as necessary: 24% ranked as a large hurdle to adoption Figure 9: Top IPv6 Adoption Challenges 2014 Incognito Software Inc. All rights reserved. Page 10 of 18

11 Management and Confidence Not Seen as Barriers to IPv6 Adoption Most respondents are confident in their ability to eventually be IPv6-ready, with 52% of respondents listing lacking confidence as not a hurdle. Managerial commitment is also not a major issue, with 46% ranking it as not a hurdle and this percentage was even higher for those who have already deployed IPv6 (86%). Education a Bigger Issue for Operators who are Mid-Adoption Educating customers was ranked higher as a large hurdle for those mid-adoption (44%) than those providers who are already IPv6-ready (14%). Completed vs. In-Progress Hurdles Of those providers who had already adopted IPv6, more than half considered CPE upgrades and a lack of device support to be large hurdles (57% each). Issues seen as slight hurdles for this group included complications from new features (71%), customer education (43%), and awareness of the importance of IPv6 (43%). For those who have begun IPv6 adoption, the large hurdles were the same, although complications from new features, training, testing, and infrastructure replacements were also listed as concerns. IPv6 Adoption Does Not Occur Overnight The survey highlighted the long timelines involved in adopting IPv6. Timelines vary widely among companies that are IPv6-ready, suggesting there is no silver bullet for adoption. Of those who are IPv6-ready: Figure 10: Length of Adoption Project for IPv6-Ready Respondents 2014 Incognito Software Inc. All rights reserved. Page 11 of 18

12 It is worth noting that the completed adoption sample size was quite small. Furthermore, some respondents came from smaller organizations, and one mentioned in the comments section that their company launched with IPv6 from the beginning. This may explain the relatively high percentage of companies rolling out IPv6 in two years or less. Although adoption times vary drastically, most in-progress providers are optimistic about their roll-out schedules. Figure 11: In-Progress Providers Expected Length of Time Required for IPv6 Readiness 2014 Incognito Software Inc. All rights reserved. Page 12 of 18

13 Adoption Could Take Longer than Expected The survey results underscored the gap between many providers expectations and reality. Comments from the survey indicate that some respondents may be overly optimistic about how long IPv6 adoption will take. Comments from those who are IPv6-ready include warnings that extensive planning and testing is essential. Comments include: 2014 Incognito Software Inc. All rights reserved. Page 13 of 18

14 Comments from respondents who are mid-adoption or currently in the planning stages reveal that many are already discovering the complications associated with IPv6 adoption: 2014 Incognito Software Inc. All rights reserved. Page 14 of 18

15 Companies Slow to Start Testing and Implementing IPv6 Tasks Service providers who are in the middle of IPv6 adoption or currently in the planning stage were asked to state their completion status for a number of IPv6 transition-related tasks. About 45% indicated that they have already completed early-stage tasks including IPv6 hierarchy planning and design, and creating IPv6-ready routing however, other tasks are less complete. For example, most have not started internal audits of network and application systems, although the majority is planning this already. Later-stage tasks such as network monitoring, customer client dependencies and application services generally fall into the not started or planning categories. A full list of graphs outlining these results are available in Appendix A. Low Rate of IPAM Adoption Of the service providers who identify as mid-adoption or in the planning stages, less than 13% currently use an IP address management (IPAM) tool. However, it seems many intend to adopt IPAM solutions in the future, with 41% indicating that they are planning to do this. This result is understandable, given that it is difficult to manually create an IP plan in spreadsheets or using home grown solutions. The benefits of an IPAM tool are more likely to be fully realized once IPv6 is deployed (for example, when an operator needs to request IPv6 blocks for customers or is working in a dual-stack network). However, an IPAM tool can also assist with earlier IPv6 adoption tasks such as hierarchy planning and network renumbering, which many providers have already or are currently completing (see above section) Incognito Software Inc. All rights reserved. Page 15 of 18

16 Recommendations and IPv6 Readiness: Adoption, Comprehension, and Challenges Conclusions Recommendations and Conclusions Communication service providers across the world are looking for ways to stretch IPv4 resources, but the reality is that IPv6 is unavoidable. Thankfully, most companies have heeded the call to begin IPv6 preparations however, there is still a lot of work to be done, with three-quarters globally still not IPv6-ready. The IPv6 Readiness survey highlights that a lack of IPv4 resources is driving communication service providers worldwide to plan for IPv6. Dual-stack networking is still the preferred method of deployment and should enable a smooth transition for end users. Many service providers still need to undergo or finish extensive network planning and testing before their networks will be ready for IPv6, indicating several years of work ahead. Not all operators will take as long to prepare, with smaller or newer providers more likely to tackle this task quickly. Executive buy-in is also essential, with more than 40% of providers who have finished implementing IPv6 doing so because of a management mandate. Communication service providers still face a number of hurdles on the way to IPv6 adoption. Major barriers include a lack of vendor support, lack of education for customers, and reluctance to upgrade CPEs and infrastructure. Service providers who are concerned about these barriers need to weigh the long-term costs of not migrating or delaying IPv6 adoption and realize that without IPv6, they risk not being able to add more customers in the future. NAT (network address translation) remains as a workaround source for many service providers looking to stretch existing resources. However, this solution is not recommended nor is it seen as a long-term solution, with 40% of providers exploring IPv6 because they don t trust NAT as a longterm solution. NAT64 can complicate networks and security and again, service providers will need to weigh the costs and implications of managing a network in this environment with starting afresh with IPv6, where the network can be renumbered from scratch. Deployment timelines and expectations vary drastically between service providers, depending on needs and available resources. However, the survey suggests that there may be a disconnect between expectations and reality, indicating that further education about what is involved in the transition to IPv6 is required. Further information about the tools available to help with IPv6 implementation, particularly in a dual-stack network environment, may also be beneficial to providers seeking ways of easing the deployment process Incognito Software Inc. All rights reserved. Page 16 of 18

17 Appendix A: Supporting IPv6 Readiness: Adoption, Comprehension, and Challenges Graphs for IPv6 Tasks Appendix A: Supporting Graphs for IPv6 Tasks Service providers currently implementing or planning to implement IPv6 were asked to rate their completion status for a number of IPv6-related tasks. The graphs below outline the status of various adoption tasks for these respondents Incognito Software Inc. All rights reserved. Page 17 of 18

18 Appendix A: Supporting IPv6 Readiness: Adoption, Comprehension, and Challenges Graphs for IPv6 Tasks 2014 Incognito Software Inc. All rights reserved. Page 18 of 18