Windows-IPv6 Overview

While the basic function of the Internet Protocol is to move information across networks, IPv6 has more capabilities built into its foundation than IPv4. A key capability is the significant increase in address space. For example, all devices could have a public IP address, so that they can be uniquely tracked. Today inventory management of dispersed assets in a very large distributed organization such as the UAG DoD cannot be achieved with IPv4 mechanisms; during the inventory cycle someone has to manually verify the location of each desktop computer. With IPv6 one can use the network to verify that such equipment is there; even non-IT equipment in the fi eld can also be tracked by having an IP address permanently assigned. IPv6 also has extensive automatic configuration (auto configuration) mechanisms and reduces the IT burden by making configuration essentially plug-and-play (auto configuration implies that a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server is not needed or does not have to be configured). (Because IPv4 manual configuration iis already a challenge in itself, one can understand that manually manipulating IPv6 addresses that are four times longer can be much more problematic). Corporations and government agencies will be able to achieve a number of improvements with IPv6.

IPv6 can improve a firm's intranet, with benefits such as, but not limited to:

Expanded addressing capabilities.
Server less auto configuration (what some call plug-n-play) and reconfiguration.
Streamlined header format and flow identification.
End-to-end security, with built-in, strong IP-layer encryption and authentication(embedded security support with mandatory IPsec implementation).
In IPv6, creating a VPN is easier and more standard than in IPv4, because of the (Authentication Header (AH) and Encapsulating Security Protocol (ESP)) Extension headers. The performance penalty is lower for the VPN implemented in IPv6 compared to those built in IPv4 [LIO199801].
Enhanced support for multicast and QoS (more refined support for Flow Control and QoS for the near real-time delivery of data).
More efficient and robust mobility mechanisms (enhanced support for Mobile IP and Mobile Computing Devices).
Extensibility: improved support for feature options/extensions.
IPv6 makes it easy for nodes to have multiple IPv6 addresses on the same network interface. This can create the opportunity for users to establish overlay or Communities of Interest (COI) networks on top of other physical IPv6 networks. Department, groups, or other users and resources can belong to one or more COIs, where each can have its own specific security policy [JUN200801].
Merging two IPv4 networks with overlapping addresses (say, if two organizations merge) is complex; it will be much easier to merge networks with IPv6.
IPv6 network architectures can easily adapt to an end-to-end security model where the end hosts have the responsibility of providing the security services necessary to protect any data traffic between them; this results in greater flexibility for creating policy-based trust domains that are based on varying parameters including node address and application [KAE200601].

IPv6 basic capabilities include the following:

Addressing
Anycast
Flow Labels
ICMPv6
Neighbor Discovery