Internet Protocol v6, or IPv6, is an Internet layer protocol developed in the 1990s (RFC2460) as an alternative to IPv4. IPv6 is based on 128-bit addresses, meaning that there are 2128 individual addresses available, which is approximately 3.4×1038, and exactly: \r\n

340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431, 768,211,456\r\nIPv6 provides enough addresses to allow the Internet to continue to expand and the industry to innovate. It is not, however, directly compatible with IPv4, meaning that a device connected via IPv4 cannot communicate directly with a device connected using IPv6.\r\nDeploying IPv6 on a global scale is vital to the Internet industry, but it requires pro-active steps on the part of industry players: technology must be upgraded, staff trained, business plans developed. Uptake to date has been relatively slow, but this is now changing, and businesses need to be aware of the need to adopt IPv6. To ignore IPv6 is to risk your medium to long term business viability.