Internet Protocol version 4, or IPv4, is the current common protocol for communicating over the internet as well as assigning Internet addresses. However as more and more devices connect to the Internet, less IPv4 Internet address space becomes available, which means that eventually new users will have to switch to using IPv6.
IPv6 was developed to deal with the long-anticipated problem of IPv4 running out of addresses. IPv6 implements a new addressing system that allows for far more addresses to be assigned than with IPv4. This changeover has been in process for some time in both Asia and Europe. On both June 8th 2011, the Internet Society held a “World IPv6 Day”, which was followed by “World IPv6 Launch Day” on June 8th 2012. Both were international efforts to accelerate the deployment of IPv6, both of which Optic Fusion participated in.
IPv6 has several advantages over IPv4. IPv6 has several privacy enhancements: it has more encryption and authentication options, which ensures that networks are less susceptible to being compromised overall significantly more secure. In addition IPv6 supports multicast, which saves network bandwidth by allowing bandwidth-intensive packet flows—such as multimedia streams—to simultaneously be sent to multiple destinations.
In general then, IPv6 is more efficient and more secure than IPv4. While other companies are catching up, Optic Fusion’s entire network supports IPv6 natively: Our clients can request IPv6 address space and start using it immediately. All of our customers receive a /48, which is the equivalent of 54,536/64 networks. With Optic Fusion, our customers not only have the security of our 24/7-staffed Tacoma location, but also the security of native IPv6 support.
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