Schools Learn about IPv6 to Prep IT Students

IPv4 provides for approximately 4.3 billion addresses and the depletion of the IPv4 addresses have been a concern since the late 1980s, when the Internet started to really grow. IPv4 addresses are now exhausted and there are no unallocated Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) addresses still available.

Karl Dietrich of Lansing Community College and Bill Saichek of Orange Coast College explained to CAPP Academic members today at Breakaway, that "with no further IP addresses available, the solution is IPv6. IPv6 has 128-bit addresses, giving 3402823669209384624633744607431768211456 unique addresses. With IPv6 there is no need to use the address fixes bolted onto IPv4, and along with solving the address problem, IPv6 also includes significant enhancements such as security, quality of service, mobility and improved performance."

Although the depletion already was approaching its final stages in 2008, Karl explained that "most providers of Internet services and software vendors were just beginning IPv6 deployment, suggesting there may be resistance to adoption of IPv6 in the marketplace."

Want to learn more about IPv6? Check out CompTIA’s white paper on the subject released earlier this summer.