Get ready for this! This blog applies to EVERYONE who has Internet. Soon we will all have a new IP address... Right now, most of us are still using an IPv4 address for our computer, routers, and other internet devices. However, since the growth of both the human population and the Internet's popularity, these addresses are quickly becoming exhausted. This is something that was foreseen in the late 80's, and IPv6 has been in place since around 1992.
The Technical Babble:
The new format will have 4 digits in each slot instead of 3 (ex. 2001:0db8:85a3:: vs. 200.123.456.789). Also, it is not limited to just 4 slots; rather it has 8. But the last 4 slots can be omitted (ex. 2001:0db8:85a3:: is the same as 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:0000:0000). But to explain what is happening even easier...
What This Means to YOU:
IPv4 address can only support up to 232 (4,294,967,296) addresses. That's 4.3 billion addresses...but the human population is now at 6.8 billion. Of course, not everyone on the planet has internet, but many people DO have more than one internet device. So it kind of balances things out so that we are seriously almost out of IPv4 addresses. Therefore, using IPv6, which can support up to approximately 2128 (340 undecillion or 3.4×1038) addresses, will solve this. That number looks something like 3,400,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. And that would allow for each and every human on earth to have up to 5×1028 addresses, according to the 2010 population records. Most routers can already support the IPv6 changeover. On February 3, 2011, the last amounts of IPv4 addresses were released to be used, and thus depletion of IPv4 addresses will be completely official as soon as they are assigned by users.
The Wake-Up Call:
Today is IPv6 Day. The Internet Society, along with several large corporations, is having a
global 24-hour test of IPv6.
