The World Wide Web will be disrupted globally on Wednesday as the world Internet bodies plan to test run the new Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6).

The Internet Protocol is the address of a device used in connecting to the Internet and it represents the technology powering the Internet.

It only recognises the IP address in providing access to the Internet and the entire global has been using the IPv4 until it numbers were recently exhausted.

The development reinforces the need to migrate to the IPv6, which had been developed as the next generation IP, address standard intended to supplement and eventually replace the IPv4 protocol that most Internet services use today.

According to the worldipv6day.org, more than 225 participating organisations from every part of the globe will join Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Akamai, Limelight Networks to enable IPv6 on their main services for 24 hours on Wednesday.

Hundreds of websites and Internet service providers around the world will be affected on that day as world Internet bodies, such as Internet Society, Internet Engineering Task Force and the Internet Architecture Board, lead the world in the first global-scale trial of the IPv6.

As a result of this, Internet users numbering over two billion worldwide will experience some difficulties in accessing the web.

The disruption, which is expected to last for only one day, is expected to affect over 43 million Internet users in Nigeria.

This, according to experts, is because all ISPs in the country are currently on IPv4, which is not compatible with IPv6.

While some experts argue that the global test run will make it impossible for ISPs in the country to connect to the Internet, organisers of the IPv6 Day have doused the fear, saying users should be able to connect to the Internet despite few glitches.
http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201106061552093