Conversion to a new Internet Protocol will cost some $25 billion over 25 years, but benefits will substantially exceed those costs, a new study from RTI International shows.
Participants in the study identified potential benefits of $10 billion a year from using the new system, the study showed.
IPv6, which allows significantly more numbers of addresses for routing of information over the Internet as well as other benefits, will replace Ipv4, which has been in use for more than a decade.
“Although these cost estimates seem large, they are actually small relative to the overall expected expenditures on IT hardware and software,” said Michael Gallaher, a senior researcher at RTI who directed the study. “The costs are even smaller relative to the expected value of potential market applications of the new IPv6 version.”
The study was paid for by the National Institute of Standards and Technology as well as the National Telecommunication and Information Administration.
IPv6 was developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force.
To see the study, go to: www.nist.gov/director/prog-ofc/IPv6-final.pdf
RTI: www.rti.org
