ANALYSIS OF IPV6 READINESS OF END-USER ENTERPRISES IN THE NORTH CAROLINA EASTERN REGION

Abstract

On February 3rd, 2011, the Internet Addressing and Numbers Authority (IANA) allocated the last five /8 blocks of IPv4 addresses to each of the five Regional Internet Registries (RIRs). Since that event, four of the five RIRs have depleted their IPv4 allocations and began operating under final IPv4 address depletion policies. The exhaustion of the IPv4 address pools maintained by the registries means that IPv4 is now a legacy protocol and that all future Internet growth will be over IPv6. This exhaustion also means that organizations must take action to accommodate IPv6 adoption or risk compromising business agility and continuity – especially those organizations with public-facing content that rely on the Internet. Yet, anecdotal evidence and recent published studies indicate that few organizations have moved to adopt IPv6. The evidence suggests a low sense of urgency and lack of understanding among organizational leaders regarding the potential consequences that IPv4 exhaustion will have on their organization’s business model. An understanding pertaining to the IPv6 adoption readiness within organizations is needed so that programs can be established to raise the awareness of organizational decision makers to risks of not having an IPv6 strategy and to inspire them to take action. This study achieved this objective by investigating the IPv6 readiness of enterprise organizations located in eastern North Carolina through a survey sent to the senior IT decision makers of 463 end-user enterprise organizations. IPv6 readiness was measured across five facets of organizational IPv6 preparedness; training, high-level planning, assessment of the current environment, IPv6 policy, and IPv6 deployment. Statistical analyses identified the significant technology adoption factors associated with IPv6 readiness as measured on a six-stage Guttman scale, ranging from simply “aware” of IPv6, to general IPv6 deployment. Results revealed that the majority of organizations have made little to no preparation toward IPv6 adoption and do not see IPv6 adoption as an urgent issue. Further it was found that the factors most significantly associated with low levels of IPv6 readiness were lack of perceived advantages of IPv6 and lack of perceived pressures from industry partners and customers to adopt IPv6. Based on the findings of this study, a recommended approach to developing an effective IPv6 strategy, as well as, a framework for IPv6 adoption planning is presented for organizational leaders and IT decision makers to use as a guide toward a successful IPv6 transition.