The transformation of the current internet Protocol into the internet Protocol next generation (IPng)-with its expanded capacity and state-of-the-art capabilities-is one of the most significant developments shaping the communications industry. With contributions by those most deeply involved, this book offers an inside view of the rationale behind IPng, reveals its ramifications across a wide array of industries, and provides a concise overview of the protocol. Required reading for anyone in data communications, it gives you a perspective on the forces shaping the internet and a fascinating glimpse into the coming era of communication technology.

The Internet is about to become a victim of its own success.The projection in the fall of 1991 that the Internet, with the capacity to support many millions of users, was beginning to run out of available network addresses was quite a bit of a surprise. The projection was quickly followed by numerous articles in the trade press announcing the imminent demise of what had been a promising technology.Many groups were ready with alternatives to fix the problem. Network protocols from various official standards organizations and proprietary protocols from a number of vendors were presented as solutions that could provide a foundation for a glorious future of ubiquitous networking.This speculation caused more than a little consternation within the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the organization responsible for keeping the standards of the TCP/IP protocol suite used by the Internet. In the face of all this "end of the world as we know it" talk, the IETF felt it needed to determine just what was truly happening, and, if there was in fact a problem, what should be done about it.When the initial investigation confirmed the basic diagnosis, the IETF undertook a multi-pronged effort to devise a replacement for the current version of the Internet protocol, IPv4. This effort sought not just to solve the immediate address limitation and scaling problems, but to look into the Internet's future and develop a protocol that would serve its needs for many years to come.This book offers an inside view of the process the IETF used in its successful effort to define the issues, and provides an overview of the resulting Internet Protocol next generation (IPng). Along the way, the book reveals the rationale behind the structure and features of IPng, presenting numerous explorations of applications and technologies IPng could potentially support.Audience This book has been written so that it can be easily understood by anyone with a basic understanding of networking and communications. Those who would benefit from this book include: managers of technical organizations, networking professionals, technology watchers, those with a stake in the growing on-line commerce industry, and anyone with an interest in the Internet prototype of the Information Superhighway.Organization Part I provides the background on issues and problems facing the Internet. Part II describes the process which the IETF used to develop the new protocol; and Part III examines the all-important time frame for developing IPng.Next, the book turns to the outside perspective of the wider networking community, with contributions from numerous industry experts.Part IV explores the potential role of IPng in the future of communications, and Part V, the innovative technologies IPng should consider embracing.Part VI contains the technical criteria for judging IPng proposals - culled from all of the preceding discussions, issues, and contributive perspectives.The IPng proposals are presented and evaluated against the technical criteria in Part VII.All of the preceding sections culminate in Part VIII, the overview of the selected IPng proposal, the new IPv6 Internet protocol.In Part IX, the critical issue of security is discussed, and in Part X, the ongoing process of developing the protocol in greater detail is outlined.Sources Much of the material in the book has been adapted from the Internet standard and documentation series known as Request for Comments (RFCs). The material has been reworked, with the authors' assistance, to make it more accessible to a general audience while retaining the technical detail inherent in the original work. Also included are a number of new pieces written specifically for this book.Acknowledgements Reaching this stage of the recommendation would not have been even vaguely possible without the efforts of many people. In particular, the work of the IPng Directorate, Frank Kaste