Internet of Things and IPv6

In the articles Introduction to Internet of Things, we explained the basic idea of Internet of Things.
In this article, we will focus on The Importance of IPv6 on Internet of Things.

What is IPv6?

Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is the most recent version of the Internet Protocol (IP), the communications protocol that provides an identification for computers on networks and routes traffic across the Internet.

What is so special about IPv6?

Every device on the Internet is assigned an IP address for identification and location definition. With the rapid growth of the Internet, it became evident that far more addresses than the IPv4 address space has available were necessary to connect new devices in the future.

IPv6 was born because the old internet (IPv4) had outgrown itself. People are used to typing web domains like www.saphanatutorial.com but what many don’t realize is that each address correlates to a set of numbers that represent a device connected to the web. It’s not just websites that need these addresses, devices do to, and they were fast being eaten up – the old internet IPv4 only had 4.3 billion of them after all.


Analysts predict that there will be 50 billion connected “things” by 2020, yet the IPv4 address space only accommodates 4.3 billion.
The IPv6 provides exactly what we need. It provides more than 340 trillion, trillion, trillion addresses.

Important Facts about IPv6:
  • IPv6 is a new version of IP, designed to be a step up from IPv4. Because of the way it is designed, it will provide for many times more addresses than the current (IPv4) system, and will help ensure the future growth of the Internet.
  • IPv6 addresses are 128-bit hexadecimal numbers.
  • IPv6 can be installed as a normal software upgrade in Internet devices and works alongside IPv4.
  • Practically all modern operating systems, including mobile, are equipped with IPv6, and most enable it by default. In fact, some modern applications, such as Microsoft Exchange 2013, won’t work without IPv6.
You can test your IPv6 connectivity here.

Why Internet of Things is so dependent on IPv6?

Analysts predict that there will be 50 billion connected “things” by 2020. The IPv6 provides exactly what we need – practically unlimited IP addresses.
IPv6 is very important when every connected home appliance and street corner will need an IP address, never mind the billions of people still not online.
Ipv6 is what will make the Internet of Things happen – now, it’s possible to tag just about any object in existence with a sensor, give it an IP address and hook it up to the world wide web, be it a dog collar, a jumbo jet, or anything else.

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