The Internet currently uses IPv4 (Internet Protocol Version 4) to map Web addresses that you have. For instance, www.yourcompany.com is assigned with an IP address 192.456.789.000. This number is unique to your Web name. Every Web name has an IP assigned to it. IPv4 uses 32-bit addresses and can support only 4.3 billion addresses and devices connect directly to the Internet. It’s like saying we are running out of license plate numbers. IPv6 (Internet Protocol Version 6) comes to the rescue. It uses 128-bit addresses and supports a virtually unlimited number of addresses and devices – 2 to the 128th power (340 undecillion or 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456). Let’s say today we have 7 billion people on our planet and each one of us can own 1 million names and devices and that amount still can’t fill the zeros in the IPv6. Until then we will have another problem to take care of.

So what does it mean to your Web site? If you are a owner of the Web name and site, you don’t have to do anything. The transition from IPv4 to IPv6 are mostly done at the ISPs level and network companies. Theses companies are now starting to test the transition and you will see more and more happening in the next 2 years. Meanwhile, the IP addresses is running as low as 6% left to use and counting.

Here are some interesting facts:

• Vint Cerf, who helped create IPv4 in 1977
• IPv6 was developed in 1998
• The IANA distributions of IPv4 addresses predicts that IPv4 addresses would exhaust on Feb. 1, 2011
• World IPv6 Day is on June 8, 2011
• And there’s an app for that: IPv4 Exhaustion Counter