ISPs, sites team up on World IPv6 Day
updated 04:35 pm EST, Tue January 17, 2012
World IPv6 Day to launch standard is June 6
The IPv6 Internet addressing standard will get a more formal launch by its backers on June 6, which is being devoted World IPv6 Day. Seven global ISPs will back the new standard then, including AT&T, Comcast and Time Warner. Also onboard are heavily trafficked websites, including Facebook, Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft's Bing, as well as hardware makers Cisco and D-Link.
All are part of the Internet Society organization that's backing the standard. The number of companies backing the standard is expected to grow quickly after the launch on June 6.
IPv6 will eventually replace the IPv4 main Internet communications protocol which is running out of address space and uses 32 bits. The older standard can accommodate 4.3 billion unique Internet addresses, which are estimated to be exhausted by the middle of 2014. IPv6 uses 128-bit addressing and also allows for more efficient data routing.
