By: MarkJ - 18 January, 2012 (9:07 AM) - Score: 2256 - Security

Facebook, Google, Microsoft Bing, Yahoo and many more websites from around the world have all agreed to make 6th June 2012 their official World IPv6 Launch day. This is the day when all associated websites will enable the "new" Internet Protocol v6 ( IPv6 ) addressing standard on their servers (similar to last year's 24-hour "test flight" but this time it will be permanent).

An IP address is assigned to your computer each time you go online (the internet equivalent of a phone number), which allows you to connect with other online websites and services. At present most of these use the old IPv4 (e.g. 84.76.41.2) standard, which are about to run out, and thus the adoption of IPv6 is fast becoming necessary.


Thankfully ISP customers need not worry too much and you can even test your internet connection compatibility here ipv6test.google.com. Crucially most broadband providers in the UK shouldn't have any trouble (even if they lack IPv6 support) because IPv4 is still, for now, being catered for.

Google admits that it could still take "years for the Internet to transition fully to IPv6", which is in large part due to the slow pace of progress by large ISPs and hardware manufacturers (e.g. broadband routers).

Thankfully hardware makers like Billion and Technicolor have already begun producing IPv6-ready kit, some of which is beginning to enter the realm of consumer affordability. Cisco and D-Link have now also committed to enabling IPv6 across their range of home products by June 2012.

Meanwhile most of the largest ISPs have a significant stockpile of IPv4 addresses that should last them for several years before IPv6 becomes critical, although there is a risk that, during this time, some sites and services might become unreachable to IPv4-only connections.

ISPs that don't have plenty of spare IPv4 capacity also run the risk of being unable to connect new customers, at least not without resorting to problematic IP address sharing. One key problem is that many such ISPs still claim a lack of demand.


The issue of "customer demand" often crops up but is a poor argument because IPv6 is a necessity not a feature. It's a seamless part of the internet, one that customers never have to see or know and thus one that would not be demanded.

Like it or not most ISPs will, for the next few years at least, need to at some point adopt a dual stack system that allows IPv6 and IPv4 networks to run side by side (note: they aren't "directly" compatible with each other). Sadly this is a costly solution and eventually native IPv6 connectivity will become the norm for all of us.