What is IPv6 and Features as Compare to IPv4?


IPv6 is short for “Internet Protocol Version 6″. IPv6 is the “next generation” protocol designed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) to replace the current version Internet Protocol, IP Version 4 (”IPv4″).

Most of today’s internet uses IPv4, which is now nearly twenty years old. IPv4 has been remarkably resilient in spite of its age, but it is beginning to have problems. Most importantly, there is a growing shortage of IPv4 addresses, which are needed by all new machines added to the Internet.


IPV6 Features:


  • IPv6 has a much larger address space than IPv4

  • Extended address length eliminates the need to use network address translation
  • IPv6 has a new packet format, designed to minimize packet-header processing.
  • Addresses in IPv6 are 128 bits long versus 32 bits in IPv4.
  • IPv6 has address space = 2128(about 3.4×1038) addresses
  • It Supports unicast, anycast, and multicast.
  • IPv6 introduces the concept of address scopes.