Today June 8th is IPV6 Day, I know that most people are thinking that’s nice, what is IPV6 and why should I care. The reason you should care is that IPV4 which is the current protocol we are using is running out of IP addresses. When the Internet was first conceived the idea that we would need more than the 4.3 billion IP address that is available under IPV4 seemed ridiculous. However now that everything from our computer to TVs have their own IP address there are more than 4 billion IPV4 addresses in use. In fact ICANN which allocates these numbers issued the last blocks in February of this year to the five Regional Internet Registries (RIRs). IPV6 is the protocol that is replacing IPV4. While IPV4 is based on 32 bits of information, IPV6 is based on 128 bits, which means the number of address available will be 3.4 X10 to the 38th power.

For the near future IPV4 and IPv6 will coexist and as new devices come online they will be IPV6 capable and IPV4 will be faded out. Actually Windows 7, Mac OS X, and Linux all support IPv6 as does iOS 4.1+, Windows Mobile and Android 2.2 (and above). Most consumers will not notice a difference, other than they may be provided a new router by their ISP. The biggest problem will be with businesses that depend on the internet for their daily business. They need to make sure they can communicate with both IPv6 and IPv4 devices. If they can only communicate with IPv4 then they may have problems reaching their customers using IPv6 devices. So it is important for businesses to make sure their networks are IPv6 ready as quickly as they can. The other advantages that IPv6 has over IPv4 are:

* Auto Configuration

* Built in Security

* Improved Quality of Service

* Routing Improvements

* Simplified Packet Header

*  Improved Mobility

One of the companies that is participating IPv6 day is D-Link. D-Links is helping to test IPv6 to discover and address any problems that come up. All new D-link products including routers, switches and access points are IPv6 ready. There is a page which list D-Links products that are IPv6 ready. D-Links can also offer complete solutions for companies who are trying to go from IPv4 to IPv6. They have a good step by step guide on how to be prepared. Other companies that are participating in IPv6 day include Google, Facebook and Yahoo.

There are some questions on how much of an emergency it is to go to IPv6, there are some who think that the rush to IPv6 is unnecessary, while others think it’s happening to slowly. Whether you think going to IPv6 is necessary or not, really doesn’t matter it is happening and you need to make sure your business is ready. D-Links offers to help business transfer to IPv6 at their web-site