RFC 1710 (rfc1710) - Page 2 of 23


Simple Internet Protocol Plus White Paper



Alternative Format: Original Text Document



RFC 1710                 SIPP IPng White Paper              October 1994


   Simpson, Ran Atkinson, Bill Fink, Erik Nordmark, Christian Huitema,
   Sue Thompson, and Ramesh Govindan.

2. Key Issues for the Next Generation of IP

   There are several key issues that should be used in the evaluation of
   any next generation internet protocol.  Some are very
   straightforward.  For example the new protocol must be able to
   support large global internetworks.  Others are less obvious.  There
   must be a clear way to transition the current installed base of IP
   systems.  It doesn't matter how good a new protocol is if there isn't
   a practical way to transition the current operational systems running
   IPv4 to the new protocol.

2.1 Growth

   Growth is the basic issue which caused there to be a need for a next
   generation IP.  If anything is to be learned from our experience with
   IPv4 it is that the addressing and routing must be capable of
   handling reasonable scenarios of future growth.  It is important that
   we have an understanding of the past growth and where the future
   growth will come from.

   Currently IPv4 serves what could be called the computer market.  The
   computer market has been the driver of the growth of the Internet.
   It comprises the current Internet and countless other smaller
   internets which are not connected to the Internet.  Its focus is to
   connect computers together in the large business, government, and
   university education markets.  This market has been growing at an
   exponential rate.  One measure of this is that the number of networks
   in current Internet (23,494 as of 1/28/94) is doubling approximately
   every 12 months.  The computers which are used at the endpoints of
   internet communications range from PC's to Supercomputers.  Most are
   attached to Local Area Networks (LANs) and the vast majority are not
   mobile.

   The next phase of growth will probably not be driven by the computer
   market.  While the computer market will continue to grow at
   significant rates due to expansion into other areas such as schools
   (elementary through high school) and small businesses, it is doubtful
   it will continue to grow at an exponential rate.  What is likely to
   happen is that other kinds of markets will develop.  These markets
   will fall into several areas.  They all have the characteristic that
   they are extremely large.  They also bring with them a new set of
   requirements which were not as evident in the early stages of IPv4
   deployment.  The new markets are also likely to happen in parallel
   with other.  It may turn out that we will look back on the last ten
   years of Internet growth as the time when the Internet was small and



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