Comcast announced it has begun its production roll-out of IPv6 customer home networking, marking a milestone in a long planning, testing and deployment process to transition to the new internetworking standard. “Whether a customer in a pilot market connects their home gateway (a.k.a. router) directly to a cable modem or connects a single PC to their cable modem, they can now use IPv6 if their equipment supports IPv6,” Comcast VP of Internet Systems Jason Livingood informed customers via the Comcast Voices blog.
Comcast’s involvement in moving the transition to IPv6 forward began more than seven years ago. Comcast’s is a “native dual-stack” IPv6 transition, meaning that it supports both current IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. “We maintain our commitment to the goal of a seamless transition to IPv6 and strongly believe that native dual stack is the best approach for our customers,” Livingood elaborated.
“We also believe that this strategy over time will meaningfully differentiate our service from our competitors in a way that customers will greatly appreciate.”
Comcast sees the dual-stack method as a means of assuring fast, direct and reliable Internet access. Running both Internet standards concurrently means Comcast doesn’t have to employ “a tunnel, proxy, network address translator, or other inefficient, outdated, error-prone middlebox.” This approach also eliminates the possibility of applications, notably Comcast’s Xfinity Internet service, slowing down or even crashing, the cable MSO and ISP noted.
Comcast’s IPv6 commercial deployment begins in existing pilot markets, which include parts of Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. One of Comcast’s major goals for the remainder of 2012 is expanding the IPv6 deployment across its national network footprint.
Comcast Distinguished Engineer & Chief Architect John Brzozowski provides more technical info on Comcast’s IPv6 migration.