IPv6 is no longer considered optional

The irony is that pretty much all the silicon out there has supported IPv6 for the last 10 years, and what's holding it up is the software.<p>This is because when you design a chip, you have to take into account what your customers will be using it for in a few years time, but for software, it's all about what your customers want yesterday. Since IPV6 has always been 'just around the corner', it gets into the hardware but not all the software.

I wonder if a declaration like this will have <i>any</i> practical impact...

So now they consider it not optional? I guess it took so long because they were thinking ipv4 would magically generate more ip numbers... The internet should be all ipv6 by now.

Why do I get the feeling that there will never be a pure IPv6 solution.<p>It does not seem possible to create a pure and complete IPv6 NAT solution. But NAT is way too useful and taken for granted to be removed. I honestly cannot believe they did not address this specifically during the standard's process! Why not learn from the past?<p>Are Teredo-like 6-within-4 solutions the only future?

Let's hope device manufacturers add IPv6. Particularly for routers and phones.

Its still a poor standard that should have died decades ago