In recent years we have seen a transition process in communications networks due to the transition from IPv4 to IPv6. The latter are totally different addresses, so it causes incompatibility. However, this makes it not an immediate process but more long-term. It arose basically due to the exhaustion of addresses of the previous protocol. However, now we find IPv4 + , one more alternative that has recently been presented.
IPv4 +, a protocol not to switch to IPv6
As we have explained, the IPv6 protocol appeared to provide a solution to IPv4 address depletion. This is something that little by little will appear more among users. There will be more who opt for this possibility and decide to change.
Now, an additional alternative is IPv4 +. It comes to save the IPv4 protocol, to at least extend its useful life a little more. Keep in mind that not all computers are compatible with IPv6. This makes it necessary to update the hardware, which represents a significant financial investment.
We can therefore say that it is an extended version of IPv4 that allows full compatibility without the need to update the hardware. In this way we would not need to make any economic investment. What it does is expand IPv4 IP addresses from 32 to 48 bits (V1) and 64 bits (V2).
IPv4 + uses what is known as “door”, a kind of “calling code”, with which they manage to expand IPv4 addresses . Note that the standard IPv4 address block is 2 ^ 32. Instead, IPv4 + (V1) allows 2 ^ 48 and IPv4 + (V2) 2 ^ 64.
These “doors” or “door” is represented as “|”. Each one has a number, which is known as a door address. Thus, a normal IPv4 address would be xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx, while the IPv4 + address would be xxx.xxx | xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx. An alternative to the arrival of IPv6 to our teams.
IPv4 + addresses reserved by country
IPv4 + addresses are reserved by country or geographic region . This may have limitations, since in a certain nation there could be a high demand and not enough. In this case, the door that corresponds to Spain would be 1.67 | 0.0.0.0/0. You can see all the addresses that correspond to each country in the information note .
In short, IPv4 + arrives as an alternative protocol to expand IPv4 addresses. An interesting option for those who do not want or cannot go to IPv6. Keep in mind that the shortage of IP addresses is going to be a problem in the short term, since we have more and more devices connected to the network. Especially with the arrival of the Internet of Things, a huge range of possibilities opens up and we have many connected computers.
This causes us to switch to using different protocols, such as IPv6 or the IPv4 + alternative that we have mentioned. Of course, this last option is interesting to avoid having to make an economic investment in hardware to achieve IPv6 compatibility, since not all current equipment is.