By Bing Li

Roland Berger has been continuously monitoring the promotion and application of IPv6 and related technologies globally, summarizing annual developments and forecasting future trends through specialized reports. In this context, the 2024 Global IPv6 Development Index Report not only reviews the global development of IPv6 in 2023 but also aims to provide policy development recommendations for countries using index assessments.

Development of IPv6 accelerates in 2023

Looking at the IPv6 development trend in 2023, with the depletion of IPv4 addresses and the expanding demand for applications such as 5G, the Internet of Things (IoT), and cloud computing, the need for large-scale deployment of IPv6 to replace IPv4 has become increasingly urgent. In 2023, the deployment of IPv6 networks significantly accelerated, breaking through the 30% mark in global coverage for the first time. Among leading countries, the IPv6 coverage rate has reached or approached 70%, and the percentage of IPv6 mobile traffic has surpassed that of IPv4.

Front-runners, Adopters and Starters all exhibit notable advancements

Given the intricate web of internal and external factors influencing individual countries' IPv6 Development Index scores, employing a method of grouping and synthesis analysis allows us to distill common trends and identify the pivotal drivers behind the progress within each category. Comparing 2023 to 2022 , all three groups—Front-runners, Adopters, and Starters —exhibited notable advancements in their IPv6 Development Indexes, with Front-runners showing the most significant leap, Starters following closely, and Adopters experiencing the smaller increase relatively.

IPv6 and IPv6 Enhanced technologies will be critical for future infrastructures

In summary, the level and capacity of a country's digitalization will be among the key factors determining its comprehensive national power in the future, with IPv6/IPV6 ENHANCED serving as a fundamental infrastructure base for building this digital capability. On the access side, IPv6 will help to address the scenarios of an intelligent society characterized by the Internet of Everything and multiplying applications, by providing abundant address resources to ensure the normal operation of diverse terminals and applications. Regarding transmission, IPv6 will leverage technologies such as SRv6 and network slicing to enable virtualization of transmission networks and automated operations, thereby better supporting the evolution of transmission networks from 100GE to 400GE, maintaining the efficiency and smoothness of network channels.