Why TMW loves IPv6

IPv4-only networks still work. They also hide a pile of workarounds: CGNAT, extra state, broken incoming connections, and a constant hunt for scarce address space. We did not want that as the foundation of a transit and DDoS network.

Every TMW BGP session carries IPv4 and IPv6 unicast. IX ports at Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Zurich and beyond have both families. Upstreams - including Hurricane Electric - are dual-stack. If a customer wants IPv6, it is already in the fabric, not a special project.

IPv6 gives each host a globally unique address. Servers, game endpoints, VPNs and APIs can accept inbound sessions without port-forwarding puzzles. That is how IP was supposed to work.

NAT is a tax on debugging, logging and DDoS forensics. Source addresses get rewritten, return paths get weird, and operators spend nights proving whose packet it actually was. Native IPv6 removes that layer of fiction.

IPv4 space is expensive and getting more so. RIPE ran out of free IPv4 years ago. Buying, leasing and hoarding /24s is a business model - it is not a network design. IPv6 prefixes from RIPE are plentiful; we can give customers room to grow without rationing addresses.

German and European access networks already carry a large share of traffic over IPv6 - Deutsche Telekom and other eyeball ISPs dual-stack by default. If your origin is IPv4-only, those users take a translation hop. Dual-stack origins talk to them natively, with a shorter path and fewer middleboxes.

IPv6 routing is the same protocol operators already know - just a larger address family. Longest-prefix match, communities, RPKI and looking-glass checks work the same way. What changes is operational hygiene: no need to NAT a prefix just to bring a new service online.

Public peering is dual-stack or it is incomplete. Our IX ports publish IPv6 addresses next to IPv4. Peers who only exchange v4 leave a growing share of traffic on transit. We peer both families because that is how you keep latency and cost under control.

VPS, cloud and transit products ship with IPv6 included - not as a paid add-on. You get addresses, routing and DDoS filtering in both families. HTTP/2, HTTP/3 and modern clients already prefer v6 when it is available; we make sure it is.

We love IPv6 because it matches how we want to operate: public, dual-stack, RIPE-registered, and boring in the best way. If your stack is still v4-only, we will help you turn up v6 without turning it into a six-month programme.