IPv6 is the latest version of the Internet Protocol, which identifies devices across the internet so they can be located. Every device that uses the internet is identified through its own IP address in order for internet communication to work. In that respect, it’s just like the street address you need to know in order to mail a letter.
The previous version, IPv4, uses a 32-bit addressing scheme to support 4.3 billion devices, which was thought to be enough. However, the growth of the internet, personal computers, smartphones and now Internet of Things devices proves that the world needed more addresses.
Fortunately, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) recognized this 20 years ago. In 1998 it created IPv6, which instead uses 128-bit addressing to support approximately 340 trillion trillion (or 2 to the 128th power, if you like). Instead of the IPv4 address method of four sets of one- to three-digit numbers, IPv6 uses eight groups of four hexadecimal digits, separated by colons.
IPv6 is not just an upgrade to IPv4 - the two are not compatible. Therefore, we're currently in a period where many networks and service providers are running both IPv4 and IPv6 side-by-side while everyone switches over. This is often called "dual-stack".
This means that for websites and services to be accessible to absolutely everyone on the Internet, they need to be enabled for both IPv4 and IPv6. Most users will not need to do anything to enable IPv6, or to facilitate the transition - this is all managed by your ISP or carrier.
Virgo Networks services are all dual-stack capable by default, meaning that we fully support both IPv4 and IPv6.
