IPv6 Mandates: Choosing a Transition Strategy, Preparing Transition Plans, and Executing the Migration of a Network to IPv6

Chapter 12. Selecting an Enterprise Transition Strategy

	Of course, some people do go both ways.
	--The Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz

This chapter is about deploying a technology that requires components in at least two different places before much value can be gotten out of the technology in either place. As you might expect, neither place wants to deploy the technology until the other place is far enough along in its deployment so that the first place's costs can be quickly recouped. Of course I'm talking about the early days of railroading. There was track to be laid and engines, boxcars, cabooses, and so on to be built. In addition, stations and depots were required to get people and cargo on and off the trains. Without the tracks the stations and depots weren't much use. Similarly, though the trains technically could load and unload passengers elsewhere besides stations, the depots served as necessary processing areas for cattle, grain, minerals, and a host of other items. The railroads' components were built because each side was motivated and believed that it would profit from the other. Each side also knew that every component had to be built before anybody saw any value. This chapter is about IPv6 and not railroads, but very similar problems are described that require cooperation, motivation, and trust in order to get IPv6 deployed not only in your network backbone, but throughout your whole enterprise.

What You'll Learn

This chapter looks at the IPv6 transition strategy ...