Scaling the Mobile Internet requires both 1Pv6 and NAT. (Network News).

Chief scientist of Tahoe Networks Dr Paul Francis, a prominent Internet innovator, says that mobile operators will require a new data network infrastructure to scale addressing for future Mobile Internet devices. The Mobile Internet many times larger than the existing Internet due to the massive number of new users and wireless devices, will add to the stress on current Internet Protocol (IP) addressing. Mobile operators require a flexible, cost-effective solution for scaling their networks that also enables new and profitable mobile data applications at the Mobile Internet Edge, where the mobile network meets the Internet.

Comment:

As the inventor of the IP address scaling protocol, NAT (Network Address Translation), and co-developer of IPv6, which offers the promise of a vastly larger IP addressing space, Dr. Francis is in a position to explore mobile operators' options for address scalability and the need for data network equipment that supports both IPv6 and NAT. Clearly different carriers around the world have different requirements, different drivers based on the available address pool they must work with, and the applications they plan to deploy on their networks.

Operators, therefore, face the challenge of deciding when and where to apply IPv6 and NAT. "Peer to Peer" and "Push" applications which require individual devices to be assigned permanent addresses, are better served by the globally unique addresses of IPv6, while NATis adequate for traditional client- server protocols like Web and Email, which do not require permanent addressing, but can be assigned addresses as needed by the network. Again migration to IPv6 is not a complete solution as operators deploying IPv6 will still need network equipment that can translate IPv6 packets into the IPv4 protocols of the rest of the Internet. The optimal place to introduce IPv6 in a network is the (MIE) Mobile Internet Edge, the intersection of the radio and IP networks, including the Internet, Intranet and private IP networks.

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