internet protocol

IP is one of the foundational protocols in the internet protocol suite
each device connected to a network gets assigned a unique number - the IP address

We’ve been transitioning from IPv4 to IPV6. The format of v6 allows for more addresses to exist.

IPv4:

Format: IPv4 addresses are 32-bit in length and are typically written in decimal format, with four numbers separated by periods (e.g., 192.168.1.1).
Address Space: IPv4 provides a limited address space, with 32 bits allowing for a total of approximately 4.3 billion unique addresses.
Depletion: Due to the rapid growth of the Internet and the increasing number of connected devices, the IPv4 address space has been largely exhausted, and there is a shortage of available IPv4 addresses.

IPv6:

Format: IPv6 addresses are 128 bits in length, which is significantly longer than IPv4. IPv6 addresses are typically written in hexadecimal format and separated by colons (e.g., 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334).
Address Space: IPv6 provides a vastly larger address space, with 128 bits allowing for approximately 340 undecillion unique addresses (that’s 340 followed by 36 zeros). This virtually eliminates the problem of address exhaustion.
Adoption: IPv6 was developed to replace IPv4 due to the depletion of IPv4 addresses. While IPv6 adoption has been ongoing, IPv4 is still widely used, and many networks and devices support both protocols to ensure compatibility during the transition period.

Summer