IPAM Evolution/Trends

This chapter reviews current technology trends that are in various stages of maturity with respect to how IP address management (IPAM) affects or can be affected by each. IPAM fulfills a major role within readers' overall network security strategy, from tracking IP inventory to address space allocation methods, to the use of network access controls, and to domain name system security. Artificial intelligence (AI) offers a growing expanse of IPAM benefits for automating the analysis of large amounts of data and for predicting outcomes based on data inputs. The concept of edge computing distributes AI from a centralized to a distributed model. Several protocols seek to separate the location of a node from the identification of the node itself, unlike the current Internet Protocol which overloads the IP address with both network location and host identifier information.