ICANN switches on IPv6

 

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By Simon Aughton

Posted on 5 Feb 2008 at 13:28

ICANN has begun adding support for IPv6 to the internet's root server, 10 years after the addressing protocol was standardised.

IPv6 addresses have been added for six of the world's 13 root server networks, enabling fuller IPv6 usage of the Domain Name System (DNS).

IPv6 is crucial to the future of the internet. Without it, internet addresses would have been exhausted by 2010 according to ICANN, which administers the DNS.

By supporting longer addresses, IPv6 effectively ensures there is no limit to the number that will be available. It increases the unique IP addresses from four billion to more than 340 trillion trillion trillion.

"Today's addition of IPv6 addresses for the root servers enhances the end-to-end connectivity for IPv6 networks, and furthers the growth of the global interoperable internet," adds David Conrad, ICANN's Vice President of Research and IANA Strategy. "This is a major step forward for IPv6-only connectivity and the global migration to IPv6."