NAT64

What Does NAT64 Mean?

NAT64 is a transition tool for IPv4 and IPv6 network addresses. NAT64 creates mapping between both address types. It is useful in moving from the IPv4 address set, which is quickly being exhausted, to the larger IPv6 address set.

Techopedia Explains NAT64

The problem is that IPv6, developed to add new address opportunities for a burgeoning Web, is simply not backward compatible with IPv4. To that end, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and other groups have been looking at ways to address the issue. NAT64 is one of them.

In the NAT64 gateway, two interfaces are connected to the IPV for an IPv6 network. Traffic from IPv6 goes through the gateway, which transfers and translates data packets. Although NAT64 is an effective gateway for these two network types, some technologies such as Skype and other types of real-time interfacing are not supported.

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Margaret Rouse

Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.

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