Migration from Internet Protocol version 4 to IPv6 has officially begun

The great migration from Internet Protocol version 4 to IPv6 has officially begun, after the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers added the first addresses to its root servers that conform to the new version.

On Monday, ICANN, which maintains the Internet's addressing systems, said it had for the first time added IPv6 addresses to the appropriate files and databases on six of the world's 13 root server networks--the systems containing the authoritative databases that form a master list of all top-level domain names. Before ICANN did this, those who were using IPv6 had no choice but to run it alongside IPv4, because the root server networks accommodated only IPv4.

"IPv6 will be an essential part (of) our future, and support in the root servers is essential to the growth, stability, and reliability of the public Internet," said the chairman of ICANN's Internet service and connectivity provider constituency, Tony Holmes. "The ISP community welcomes this development as part of the continuing evolution of the public Internet."

Source: news.com