M2M Tips - Public IP vs Private IP Addressing

Over the past 15 years, the team at M2M Connectivity & M2M One have coached, consulted, celebrated and at times commiserated with thousands of hopeful developers trying to make their mark on the Machine to Machine/In

This series of blog posts is designed to pass on some M2M 101 style tips to developers looking to get into the space.

To IP or NAT to IP… (Ok that was terrible, I’m sorry)

The thing I want to achieve with this post is to address some common questions we get asked on a daily basis when it comes to IP addressing.

1. Where is IPv6? – To most people involved in IP networking, especially in the M2M space, this has been the Holy Grail for the past 3 years but in reality there is still some way to go from a hardware and network architecture perspective for it to be commonplace. I know the IoT is going to be a big factor in driving IPv6 uptake but from a cellular M2M perspective it’s all IPv4 all the time… for now.

2. Gimme that Public Static IPv4 address – Looks good, sounds good. In reality it’s hard to find due to the lack of IPv4 addresses, the cost of maintaining those addresses and the various security issues related to having a permanently discoverable IP address, which I’ll discuss a little later.

3. My device is useless without an addressable IP – This is possibly the biggest misconception around IP addressing in M2M. Yes being able to address a device when needed is useful, but there are literarily millions of devices that function just as well by initiating communications remotely without needing to be poked or prodded by you or your server.

So what are your options when it comes to IP addressing and management for M2M/IoT devices? You can also find more information on private IP addressing here.

Hopefully this post hasn’t caused too many people far more technical than me to shout at their screen and spill their coffee, but if it has please feel free to comment and share your knowledge and expertise.