Steve Crocker wrote:
The only way variable length address would have provided a
smooth transition is if there had been room to increase the
length of the address after some years of use.
Bottom up approach to extend address length toward port numbers,
thus, worked, is working and will keep working with or without
NAT.
If necessary, we can have new TCP, UDP and other transport
protocols with 32 or 48 bit long port numbers without changing
core routers, though it requires minor modifications to transport
and application code.
Anyway the current 48 bit space of IPv4 addresses and 16 bit port
numbers will be suffice for a decade or two.
Masataka Ohta
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