IPng short for Internet Protocol next
generation, a new version of the Internet Protocol (IP) currently being reviewed in IETF standards committees. The official name of IPng is IPv6,
where the v6 stands for version 6. The current version of IP is version 4, so it is sometimes referred to as IPv4.
IPng is designed as an evolutionary upgrade to
the Internet Protocol and will, in fact, coexist with the older IPv4 for some time. IPng is designed to allow the Internet to grow steadily, both
in terms of the number of hosts connected and the total amount of data traffic transmitted.
Due to recent concerns over the impending
depletion of the current pool of Internet addresses and the desire to provide additional functionality for modern devices, an upgrade of the
current version of the Internet Protocol (IP), called IPv4, is in the process of standardization. This new version, called IP Version 6 (IPv6),
resolves unanticipated IPv4 design issues and is poised to take the Internet into the 21st Century. When the Internet was in its early years, its
designers had developed a system that allowed four billion
Internet addresses, a huge figure representing
the number of users, to communicate each other online at a time.
Today about 6 billion people inhabit the earth.
They own an estimated 350 million computers and 480 million mobile phones. The number of mobile phones and PDAs is expected to reach one billion by
2003.
The reason we are quickly moving beyond the
capabilities of the current protocol has a lot to do with the propagation of wireless devices and new services, as well as the subsequent of
massive demand for more addressees.
The very concept of computers is changing
rapidly as cars, vending machines and even house hold applications follow the lead of the PC and become connected to the Internet. Each one will
require its own unique address.
It is estimated
that within seven to ten years a single user will manage an average of 10 addresses and this number could grow higher in future. Wireless gambling,
music on demand, video content and video conferencing are becoming a reality. With IP V-6 every person on earth could have a million uniquely
addressees and the individually locatable IP devices. With this kind of capability we could create the potential for virtually unlimited access to
the Internet for nay number and variety of devises.
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