An Internet Protocol or IP address is a number that identifies each sender or receiver of information sent over the internet. The computer industry has been using the IPv4 Internet Protocol for these addresses since that protocol was developed. That technology is now reaching its technical limits for supporting unique Internet addresses. With IPv4 addresses running out this year, the entire Internet industry must adopt a new protocol- IPv6- that supports many more addresses or risk increased costs and limited functionality online for Internet users everywhere.

The IPv4 address shortage has been developing and IPv6 is the answer. IPv6 will give the Internet a much larger amount of IP addresses available- more than 340 trillion- which will allow for many more devices and users on the Internet as well as extra flexibility in allocating addresses and efficiency for routing traffic.

Companies, including Google,Yahoo!, Facebook are coming together to help motivate organizations across the industry- Internet service providers, hardware manufacturers, operating system vendors and other web companies- to prepare their services for their transition.