How the Internet Works 6 March 2015

On “Broccoli Technologies” and IPv6 in The New IP Blog

By Megan KruseFormer Director, Advocacy and Communications

thenewipChris Grundemann recently had the chance to write a guest blog post over on The New IP, which bills itself as “The community for next generation network strategists.

He discusses topics ranging from IPv6 and the Internet of Things to DNSSEC, TLS, securing BGP, and anti-spoofing – naturally, all the things we love here at Deploy360.

I encourage you to read his whole eloquently stated post, but here’s a snippet:

This is why my friend, mentor and former boss Leslie Daigle called these protocols “broccoli technologies.” They’re good for you, but not everyone likes eating them.

For example: Deploying IPv6 today requires resources but there is no short-term ROI. You can’t charge current customers more for it. You’re still offering the same services, just over a newer version of IP. However, if you don’t implement IPv6, you’ll lose connectivity to a growing portion of the Internet — your future customers.

If we don’t all eat our broccoli today, we may soon see this magnificent Internet start to distort, fragment or even crumble.

What do you think? There are already several comments over on The New IP site, including recommendations for a ‘comfort food’ analogy to counteract the ‘broccoli technologies’ angle. Any ideas? I’d love to hear what you’ve got!

(Of course, as always, if you’re looking to get started, we have a page just for you. And it being Friday afternoon as I type this, you might want to check out our Weekend Projects category while you’re here.)

Disclaimer: Viewpoints expressed in this post are those of the author and may or may not reflect official Internet Society positions.

Related Posts

Open Internet Standards 21 May 2026

On Global Accessibility Awareness Day, An Internet for Everyone Must Include Everyone 

Today, 21 May, marks the 15th Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD)–a day dedicated to getting everyone talking, thinking, and learning about...

Open Internet Standards 19 May 2026

An Open Fiber Data Standard to Make the Internet for Everyone

The Open Fibre Data Standard is an open data, open standards initiative to develop and implement a common language...

Open Internet Standards 22 April 2026

Climate and Environmental Sustainability Within the IETF and IRTF

As we celebrate Earth Day 2026, what is the technical community—the people who actually build and operate the Internet—doing about climate and environmental sustainability?