World IPv6 Day test runs 24 hours starting June 8

(PhysOrg.com) -- Today's Internet protocol, IPv4, is expected to run out of space this year. On World IPv6 Day the first steps will be taken to test a long-term solution that will address the 30 year old 32 bit addresses.

On June 8, 2011 major web companies such as Facebook, and Yahoo!, will allow IPv6 to run on their main websites for 24 hours. These websites along with Google have more than one billion combined visits each day. They are joining major content delivery networks Akamai and Limelight Networks along with the Internet Society, for the first global-scale 24 hour trial run of the new Internet Protocol, IPv6.

Internet users will not have to do anything to prepare for this 24 hour global event. According to the Internet Society, the vast majority of users, about 99.5%, will be unaffected. There will be some cases where users may experience connectivity problems due to the fact that their home network device is not configured correctly.

The major goal of World IPv6 Day is to identify the potential problems under controlled testing and address them in a timely manner. Organizations involved in this global event will be working alongside operating system manufacturers, networking vendors and ISPs to minimize the number of users affected.

World IPv6 Day marks a critical day in Internet history that will pave the way for future growth and enabling more computers, networks and handheld devices to come online.

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