Publication Data
Evaluating IPv6 adoption in the Internet
Abstract: As IPv4 address space approaches exhaustion, large networks
are deploying IPv6 or preparing for deployment. However, there is little data available
about the quantity and quality of IPv6 connectivity. We describe a methodology to
measure IPv6 adoption from the perspective of a Web site operator and to evaluate the
impact that adding IPv6 to a Web site will have on its users. We apply our methodology
to the Google Web site and present results collected over the last year. Our data show
that IPv6 adoption, while growing significantly, is still low, varies considerably by
country, and is heavily influenced by a small number of large deployments. We find that
native IPv6 latency is comparable to IPv4 and provide statistics on IPv6 transition
mechanisms used.
