The IPv6 Killer Product

Before you roll your eyes (you have done it already, haven't you?), let me clarify that I know there has been a long ongoing treasure hunt for it, but nobody discovered it so far.

This time it's different

So far most of us (let's call us the "IPv6 lovers") was looking for a product or service that cannot be realised with IPv4, having a good reason for moving on to the pretty IPv6 world. But aren't we asking the wrong people and the wrong question if we orientate ourselves this way?

You are different

Chances are high that if you opened this article that you are a fan/trend-setter/influencer of IPv6. So you know your share about iPv6, how to use it, why you like it and obviously why you are not keen on focussing on IPv4. So why would anyone ask an IPv4 user of what they want? They cannot know, because they haven't arrived in our precious world yet.

Thus we would like you to share your opinion; why do you love, promote or even use IPv6?

We have a simple plan to create the IPv6 killer product:

• Write a blog article about the idea
• Publish the article and invite you to discuss it
  • On the IPv6 chat
  • On twitter
  • On hackernews
  • On reddit
  • On linkedin
• Summarise ideas from various forums and collect them
• Build the product

Btw, if you have a concern that we will just take the idea and make money with it, keep in mind that the whole process is open and anyone is free to take the idea and create the real product. In the end, all of us IPv6 lovers benefit, if anyone is developing it.

The IPv6 killer product

The features

Let's start with some (non-)obvious features:

• Probably makes use of the vast space available in IPv6

• Might make use of all IP addresses being public

• Might be more beneficial for private and small companies (SME)

• No mess with port forwardings anymore

• You can easily connect a lot of computers (or virtual machines or containers) to the Internet

• You can potentially save money by avoiding to buy high speed network equipment doing CGNAT

  • Can somebody verify this?

• Assuming that IPv6 is deployed on newer network gear, IPv6 devices might have lower latency in the (near) future

• No problems merging different sites (as opposed to two sites using overlapping rfc1918 space)

  • This is especially true for connecting different sites (f.i. after a merger) by VPNs

• Voice over IP (VoIP) applications using SIP benefit from directly finding out the right IP and do not require keep-alive through the firewall anymore

• Let people pay if they visit via legacy (IPv4) protocol to your site

  • Subscription based access to the content of your site, if people visit by IPv4

Possible real products

• Static IPv6 VPNs
  • Enable tech-savvy people to provide their services on their own hardware in their home
  • User base might not be that huge (tech-savvy people are not the most frequent existing)
• IPv6 only websites
  • Cat picture website!
• An IPv6 game with lower latency than IPv4 players
• PageRank
  • If sites that are accessible by IPv6 get a higher page rank than IPv4 pages, there would be quite an incentive
• (given lower latency) trading applications on IPv6  only networks

The final product(s)

• TBD!

While you are here

We are currently running a crowdfunding campaign that offers a variety of IPv6 related products. If you could spread the word about it, we would appreciate a lot. Also, if you are looking for IPv6 only VPS, we are running the ipv6onlyhosting.com website.