Peter Ford wrote 21 November 2004 17:08
To: Noel Chiappa; ietf(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org
People seem to forget that people buy NATs for IP address sharing and
firewalling. They don't seem to "get it" that there are very few people
who would ever buy a NAT because of IPv4 address limitations.
cdel> This is difficult to confirm (or deny) as current research into why
users buy NAT's is not clear and so this topic is very opinionated. I've
organised a survey right now for UK IPv6 TF to try to elicit some evidence
and to decipher whether IP layer (v4 or v6) considerations are significantly
taken into account in purchasing decisions (amongst other metrics).
Sticking my neck out from observation (and not from survey results) the
impression I have today is that IP layer issues (irrespective of version)
are not generally considered when making purchasing decisions. That is IP is
seen as a given and decisions are based on either L2/L1 (i.e., DSL / OC3 etc
access issues) or Applications. The health or otherwise of L3 appears to be
assumed.
This is interesting if true as clearly L3 is the bit that allows anything to
run over everything (IP over everything and everything over IP). Anything
that gets in the way or breaks that architecture clearly can change this
transparency.
So it could be argued that people who buy IP services and products such as
NAT should be encouraged to consider IP address implications and that they
risk placing themselves into an online cul de sac if they are not.
Christian
Christian de Larrinaga
t:+44-(0)844-484-9197
m:+44(0)7989-386778
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