TIP6: a transition mechanism for implementing mobile networks

The use of the IPv4 protocol in mobile networks has considerably increased the number of hosts that can potentially access the global Internet. Because the IPv4 address space is almost exhausted, the pressure for more IP addresses has increased again the attention on the IPv6 protocol. Because the transition from IPv4 to IPv6 is supposed to gradually happen, IETF is publishing a set of transition mechanisms that permits communicating IPv6 and IPv4 hosts and network devices. This paper describes an approach for implementing mobile networks with global Internet connectivity using transition mechanisms. It consists in virtually assigning IPv6 addresses to IPv4 hosts without modifying end-user devices. As shown in the paper, it permits the deployment of mobile networks with global Internet connectivity using legacy IPv4 equipments and private IPv4 addresses.