[May 27, 2008 Update: The E-Business Suite is now certified to be IPv6-compatible; see this announcement for details.]
[May 9, 2007 Update: As of today, this article still represents our latest status on IPv6 certification for the E-Business Suite, for both Release 11i and 12. We have been briefed on the US Federal requirements for the 2008 changeover. Aside from those US governmental organizations, if you haven’t already contacted us about your IPv6 requirements, please drop me a line.]
IPv6 is the “next generation” protocol designed by the IETF to replace the current version Internet Protocol, IP Version 4 (“IPv4”).
Most of today’s internet uses IPv4, which is now nearly twenty years old. IPv4 has been remarkably resilient in spite of its age, but it is beginning to have problems. Most importantly, there is a growing shortage of IPv4 addresses, which are needed by all new machines added to the Internet.
IPv6 fixes a number of problems in IPv4, such as the limited number of available IPv4 addresses. It also adds many improvements to IPv4 in areas such as routing and network autoconfiguration. IPv6 is expected to gradually replace IPv4, with the two coexisting for a number of years during a transition period.
Most of today’s internet uses IPv4, which is now nearly twenty years old. IPv4 has been remarkably resilient in spite of its age, but it is beginning to have problems. Most importantly, there is a growing shortage of IPv4 addresses, which are needed by all new machines added to the Internet.
IPv6 fixes a number of problems in IPv4, such as the limited number of available IPv4 addresses. It also adds many improvements to IPv4 in areas such as routing and network autoconfiguration. IPv6 is expected to gradually replace IPv4, with the two coexisting for a number of years during a transition period.
Certification Plans for the E-Business Suite
Certification of the E-Business Suite with IPv6 is in the queue for evaluation and feasibility analysis, but we don’t have any commitments or timelines that we can share at this point.
Help Influence Our Priorities
If your organization is committed to migrating IPv6, please add a comment to this article or drop me an email with the details, including timelines and how you expect this to affect your E-Business Suite deployments. Your feedback helps us prioritize this certification for future releases.