Client and network-based dual stack mobility management

The Internet is evolving to accommodate users´ demands, including mobility (users are mobile) and ubiquitous connectivity (billions of devices demand IP connectivity). The former has caused the design of IP mobility protocols aimed at enabling terminals to seamlessly roam among heterogeneous access networks, while the latter has speeded up the depletion of the IPv4 addressing space, triggering the design of a new version of IP (IPv6) and the development of transition mechanisms to enable the coexistence of IPv4- and IPv6-based networks. During the transition period, which is expected to last years, dual stack IPv4 and IPv6 mobile nodes will roam across IPv4-and-IPv6, IPv6-only and IPv4-only networks. This article presents a comprehensive tutorial of the mechanisms that have been standardized recently to support dual stack IP mobility management.