Now you got these brand new machines, all equiped with this easy to configure, easy to administer IPv6 protocol. You have all of them configured (it was a snap, wasn't it?) and they are talking nicely amongst themselves. You are just leaning back when one of your "users" calls in: "Hey, what happend to the Internet, has it been deleted, or WHAT?". The dream shatters, this new IPv6 is a completely new protocol: not just a couple of enhancements to your familiar IPv4. Using a new network protocol involves a lot more than just configuring your systems to use it. The global networkinfrastructure has to be upgraded as well. Certainly this can (and will) not be done in one giant update campaign. Therefore early adaptors must be provided with the means to cooperate with the existing network and services. A smooth transition, where every site can decide its own pace, must be made. Early adaptors of the IPv6 protocol will find a world where IPv6 is hardly ever heard of, except for other (remote) islands of IPv6. Others may find that the Internet they were used to has moved to another protocol, rendering their IPv4 based services useless. In this tutorial you will learn about transition tools available to users of IPv6. Knowledge of the workings of the TCP/IP protocols (version 4) is assumed. The tutorial will start with a brief introduction in the differences between IPv4 and IPv6, so no prior knowledge of IPv6 is necessary.

After having been a scientist at the University of Nijmegen (KUN), the Netherlands, he is now working with AT Computing in Nijmegen, where he teaches Unix and Unix related subjects. His specialities are centered around advances in networking (especially IPv6), the X Window system and programming languages.