We can say with certainty that you’ll never run out of IP addresses for your private WheatNet-IP audio network.
The same can’t be said for the public internet, which is migrating to IPv6 to keep it in IP addresses. The length of an IPv6 address is 128 bits, compared to 32 bits for existing IPv4 addresses, or that unique numerical string that’s needed by every device to connect to the internet. Who would have thought that the internet would blow through 4.29 billion available IPv4 addresses, the last and final block of which was allocated not so long ago? IPv6 will give us, well, a whole lot more. It’s approximately the same as the difference between filling a five gallon bucket and filling the volume of the sun with IP addresses!
And, here’s another interesting point about IPv6 that Tieline’s Charlie Gawley reminded us of: “Multicasting is inherently part of IPv6, whereas with IPv4, multicasting is part of the network itself like what you’d find with WheatNet.”
Obviously, WheatNet-IP is a private multicast network operating within your studio environment that will never require as many IP addresses as what’s needed for the public internet.
But the migration to IPv6 is something to keep in mind as you consider the use of the public internet for bringing in audio contributions to the studio.
Tieline is a Wheatstone technology partner. Tieline’s Genie audio codec and IP distribution system is IPv6 compatible and has WheatNet-IP inside for connecting directly from the external public internet into the WheatNet-IP audio network.