Methods and systems are provided for routing or forwarding packet data conforming to two different communication protocols simultaneously in a computer network. The first protocol may be a legacy protocol, such as IPv4, with routing being performed in a manner that maintains legacy behavior and functions. Such functions may include network address translation. The second protocol may be a newer protocol, such as IPv6, with the routing or forwarding being performed through reduced complexity bridging that enables simplified connectivity of second protocol devices. The bridging performed typically requires less memory and processing power than traditional routing techniques such as those implemented for the first protocol. Reduced memory and processing power requirements enable the second protocol routing functions to be added to legacy equipment that would not otherwise be able to support routing of the second protocol packet data.