The IP address management challenge

Addressing the future of UK business success

Even if many employees don’t recognise the fact, UK business is wholly dependent on IP based computing and there are so many factors influencing the demand for new IP addresses that a new addressing system has been designed.

Each time a device such as a printer, computer, or even an iPad and smartphone is added to the network, a unique address has to be allocated. Without this, devices could try to use the same address and cause address conflict which is certain to degrade network performance in some way.

The current system for creating IP addresses is known as IPv4 (IP version 4) and is structured on a 32 bit address pattern. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has developed a replacement which is known as IPv6 and this offers a massive increase in address space as it based on a 128-bit structure.

Business managers and organisation leaders need to have a plan for this address scheme upgrade and they need to automate the management of IP addressing as a matter of urgency. The challenge is not necessarily a technical one, but an administrative one.  It is a challenge with a big economic impact as well. Already administrators of IP networks are running to stand still and when the number of addresses under management increases by several orders over a short period of time, business impact is inevitable.

As UK business struggle to stay afloat and prepare for better times they simply cannot afford the debilitating impact of poorly managed core networks services such as IP Address Management. As if this threat wasn’t daunting enough, the drudgery of managing these services is causing valuable and scare IT professional to search out employers who have already resolved the challenge of automatically managing networks services, allowing them to advance their career and undertake more business centric and technically challenging work.

Published by The IPstore – September 2011.