IPv6: All advantages of the standard at a glance

IPv6 has been the newest standard of network technology for some years, but few know the advantages over IPv4. We show you what IPv6 really brings.

Advantages of IPv6: More possible addresses

• IPv6 is a standard for data transmission. With the help of IP addresses, websites are called up and a wide variety of devices are networked with one another.
• Until the introduction of IPv6, only the older IPv4 standard was used. The classic IPv4 addresses have the following format: 192.168.0.254
• This number format can create around 4.3 billion different addresses. However, if every website and device in the world receives its own IP address, duplications and errors can occur at some point.
• This is the biggest advantage of IPv6. The new standard enables 340 sextillion different IP addresses. Accordingly, an IP address is significantly longer: 2001: 0540: 0000: 0000: 0231: 24FF: FE80: C12C
• The shortage of IP addresses made it necessary to use Network Address Translation (NAT). In larger companies, NAT often bundles many private IP addresses behind one public IP address. Although this provides more security, it often also causes technical problems.
• The technical structure of IPv6 makes the new standard significantly more efficient. Networks can better recognize the priorities of data streams so that ideally the data arrives at its destination faster.

In the next practical tip, we will show you how to set up IPv6 in your router.