IPv6 Background

When considering Internet Protocol
Version 6 (IPv6), it is necessary to
consider the origins of Internet
Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) or what
we refer to today as IP. IPv4 was
developed by DARPA to allow
disparate systems to communicate.
The origins of the IPv4 protocol
allowed for a 32-bit address field
that could accommodate a maximum of 4,294,967,296 (or ~4.2billion) addresses. The Internet, as we know it today, was born from this Grand Experiment.

However, it became apparent in the mid 1990’s that the IPv4 address pool would not be sufficient to support the explosive growth of what became the Internet.

To slow the depletion of addresses, tools such as CIDR (Classless Internet Domain Routing), NAT (Network Address Translation), and RFC1918 (Private Addressing) were introduced. These tools are in use across the Internet today.

However, the IETF recognized the long-term issues with the address space and began work on the next generation of the Internet Protocol. It was originally referred to as IPnG. Today we call it IPv6.

IPv6 expands the addressing into an address field of 128-bits. This allows for approximately 340 Undecillion addresses. With an average allocation of 1.2 Septillion addresses (i.e. /48), Enterprises should no longer be constrained by addressing shortages.

IPv6 is definitely a different approach. IPv6 is the same as IPv4 in principle; however, there are vast differences as well.

IPv6 has made what seem to be considerable advances in Europe and the Pacific Rim. IPv6 is slowly becoming a mainstream offering United States as well.