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What is IPv6, Why do We Need IPv6, and Do I Need to Worry About It?

Today is the day! It’s World IPv6 Launch day, which means that it is the day that major sites have committed to rolling out IPv6, which is replacing IPv4. So just what is IPv6? Well, if you have heard about the Internet running out of room – being full – which really means that we were running out of IP (Internet Protocol) space, or, more precisely, IP addresses, that is what IPv6 was created to address. IP addresses are analagous to telephone numbers, only instead of the telephone number telling the telephone system which telephone to ring, an IP address tells the Internet system which computer or device to route something to. If you are old enough to remember when area codes needed to be split, with new area codes being set up, because a particular area code ran out of numbers, then you have a good idea of why we need IPv6.