July 16, 2012

With the implementation of the latest Internet Protocol (IP) standard called IPv6, the Internet grew from 4.3 billion unique addresses to 340 undecillion (340 trillion trillion trillion), a growth factor of 79 octillion (billion billion billion). IP is a global communications standard used for linking connected devices together. Every networked device -- a PC, smartphone, laptop, tablet, etc. -- needs a unique IP address. With IPv6, there are now enough IP combinations for everyone in the world to have a billion billion IP addresses for every second of their life. The previous IP standard, IPv4, had this structure: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx, with each "xxx" able to go from 0 to 255. IPv6 expands that so each "x" can be a 0 through 9 or "a" through "f," and it's structured like this: xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx. That expansion is necessary because Cisco predicts that by 2016 there will be three networked devices per person on earth. I myself already have three, and I’m planning to get more.