Secure and efficient IPv4/IPv6 handovers using host-based identifier-locator split

Internet architecture is facing at least three major challenges. First, it is running out of IPv4 addresses. IPv6 offers a long-term solution to the problem by offering a vast amount of addresses but is neither supported widely by networking software nor has been deployed widely in different networks. Second, end-to-end connectivity is broken by the introduction of NATs, originally invented to circumvent the address depletion. Third, the Internet architecture lacks a mechanism that supports end-host mobility and multihoming in a coherent way between IPv4 and IPv6 networks. We argue that an identifier-locator split can solve these three problems based on our experimentation with the host identity protocol. The split separates upper layer identifiers from lower network layer identifiers, thus enabling network-location and IP-version independent applications. Our contribution consists of recommendations to the present HIP standards to utilize cross-family mobility more efficiently based on our implementation experiences. To the best of our knowledge we are also the first ones to show a performance evaluation of HIP-based cross-family handovers.