Background:
IPV6 stands for “Internet Protocol Version 6�, it is also called the “Next Generation Internet Protocol� or IPng. IPV6 is the commonly used abbreviation where the 6 refers to it being assigned version number 6. It was recommended by the IPng Area Directors of the IETF at a meeting in Toronto, Canada on July 25th, 1994.


What is it?
Internet Protocol Version 6, is the latest incarnation of the TCP/IP standard that increases Internet Protocol's ability to scale to billions of users and Internet appliances. IPv6 will add to the pool of available IP addresses to provide support for a virtually unlimited number of users and devices. The primary value of IPv6 is in its ability to support an application independent Internet. The current version, IPv4, was adapted to accommodate the rapid growth of Internet use in a way that will not support some of the new applications.

It is the new networking protocol standard for the transmission of data over the Internet, the current version IPV4 is in use throughout most of the Internet. IPV4 (there were no versions 0 – 3) is now nearly 20 years old, and although it has worked well problems are starting to occur. There is a growing shortage of IPV4 addresses, which are needed by all new machines that connect to the Internet.

What’s it going to do?
IPV6 has been introduced to provide IP addresses for the growing number of network connections to the Internet. It does this by increasing the size of IP address fields from 32 bits to 128 bits. The number of possible IP addresses is 2 raised to a power that is the size of the IP address field. For IPV4, this is 2 32 and for IPV6, this is 2 128.

So IPV6 now offers a 128-bit network space (3.4 x 10 38 addresses), an unfathomable amount compared to IPV4’s 32-bit space, which provides around 4 billion IP addresses. It also add many other improvements in areas such as routing and network auto configuration.

IPV6 will provide for the enormous increase in demand for IP addresses that we can expect from mobile devices, PC’s and even simple home appliances into addressable IP hosts. It is currently gaining popularity in academic networks and will gradually replace IPV4, with the two coexisting for a number of years during a transition period.

Eventually the entire Internet will migrate to IPV6 and every electronic device in the home will have an IP address.

Convert from IPV4 to IPV6?
Windows XP only requires the command “ipv6 install� to enable native IPV6 on Ethernet interfaces. It can be installed as a normal software upgrade in Internet devices and operating systems it is also interoperable with the current IPV4.

IPV6 packets can be tunnelled through IPV4 networks by encapsulating them within IPV4 packets (using SIT), so the two protocols can and will coexist on the Internet for some time to come.

IPV6 has been adopted only in a few areas because its main advantage, large address fields, is not too important yet. However, IPV6 is beginning to gather strength, particularly in Asia and Europe, which were shortchanged in the original allocation of IPV4 addresses (N America owns 74% of all IPV4 addresses).

The situation now:
IPv6 is the widely accepted solution that can truly overcome the limits of IPv4 to support a new era of Internet growth. While address conservation methods such as Network Address Translation (NAT) and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) provide an alternative solution today for some applications, their shortcomings seriously limit the long-term growth, flexibility, and manageability of the Internet.

Ultimately, when compared with the alternatives, IPv6 will be the best solution for today's network address shortage problem, enabling the Internet to reach new levels of growth and scalability.

I am the website administrator of the Wandle industrial museum (http://www.wandle.org). Established in 1983 by local people to ensure that the history of the valley was no longer neglected but enhanced awareness its heritage for the use and benefits of the community.