IP was designed as a 32-bit number, and it is now known as the IPv4. In 1995, the IPv6 was developed, which uses 128 bits for the address. It had to be developed because 4,294,967,296 unique addresses that the IPv4 provided (2^32) were not enough. The IPv6 has about 2^128, or about 3.403 × 10^38 unique addresses, which should get us by for a long time. IP adresses are stored as binary numbers, but to make it easier for us to read, they are displayed in "human-readable" notations. An example of this is the IPv4 image to the right. The top numbers are displayed in dot-decimal notation, which are the "human-readable" notations. These numbers can range from 0 to 255. Below those are the binary numbers that IP addresses are stored as. Each section of numbers are 8 bits, so this means that this is an IPv4 adress because it only has 4 sections.While researching IP addresses, I came across the cartoon below (2). It is from a news story about how federal government agencies had to transition their network to IPv6. They needed to do this to support rapidly evolving needs in real-time e-government transactions and services and to enhance data transmission capabilities. Also, there was a strong demand for more IP addresses in general. The headings on the cartoon (in case you can't read them) are Destination, IPv6, and IPv4. I like that under Destination it lists wireless mobility, limitless space, auto configuration, and sensor network. Supposedly, the IPv6 should be capable of all of these. So what do you think the meaning is of the "spaceships" in the background? Does it mean that IPv6 is going to give us capablities in the future that we never dreamed of?
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