World IPv6 Day, June 8th 2011 -- 24-hours of global IPv6 testing

As well all know, the world is running out of IPv4 addresses. Whether you believe that's a major problem or not, the fact is we're going to run out -- and then what? IPv6 is set to take over, but convincing ISPs, hosts and backhaulers to implement the 128-bit protocol has been an uphill battle for years, and still only 0.2% of Internet users currently connect via the next-generation protocol to this day. That's why the Internet Society, in conjunction with Google and other major websites, is launching World IPv6 Day -- a 24-hour test period for the Internet's savior.

Kicking off on June 8th 2011, the idea is that by enabling IPv6 on major sites across the globe, we can stress test the new protocol on a massive scale, isolate any bugs, and get it all ship-shape for the inevitable global roll out. End-users thankfully, shouldn't have to do much but sit back and browse as normal. There is a possibility however, that a small minority of users will suffer connectivity issues mainly due to home network configuration problems (what's new?) -- and it's certainly better to know that ahead of time.

Google's unsurprisingly leading the charge on this one. If anyone has lots to lose by Internet Armageddon, it's Google. In fact if you've been using Google since 2008, chances are you've already connected to Google.com via IPv6 and didn't know it. YouTube has been IPv6-ready since the beginning of 2010 too.

So mark the day in your diary -- June 8th -- and perhaps make sure you don't have any important Internet-related business that day...

World IPv6 Day, June 8th 2011 -- 24-hours of global IPv6 testing originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 13 Jan 2011 05:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/01/13/world-ipv6-day-june-8th-2011-24-hours-of-global-ipv6-testing/

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