IPv4 address reusing (address and port) seems to relieve the pressure posed by rapid IPv4 address consumption. However, a great number of devices are deployed, which more or less affects various services and applications. In IPv6 development, users, ICPs, ISPs, and carriers show different sensitivity levels to IPv4 address exhaustion, which results in an imbalance in the IPv6 industry chain. Each party has its own considerations when promoting IPv6 development. In addition, the IPv4 address sharing mechanism seems to slow down the development of the IPv6 industry chain. The ongoing development of the IPv6 industry chain, however, seems to challenge the deployment scale of the IPv4 address sharing mechanism.
To ensure the running of existing IPv4 services and the development of updating IPv6 services, the 4over6 scenario that accommodates both IPv4 and IPv6 service characteristics has become the focus of the long-term evolution solution. In the 4over6 scenario, various types of transition techniques are also generated. MAP technology combines the stateless and dual translation and encapsulation techniques and becomes the most concerned solution of the IETF.
MAP offers the following benefits to carriers:
In the 4over6 scenario, the MAP technology has advantages in performance, reliability, and deployment cost (without log servers or service boards). The MAP technology in the 4over6 scenario effectively reduces carriers' equipment investments and promotes the evolution to IPv6 networks.