Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) is supposed to be the future of the Internet. It is a new and improved protocol that greatly expands the current internet’s address space. But IPv6 is not compatible with the legacy Internet protocol (IPv4). This means that network operators who upgrade have to run both the new and the old protocols to remain connected to the whole Internet. This compatibility problem has created barriers to the migration to the new protocol. Yet migrate we must, as IPv4 does not have enough address space to sustain the growth of the Internet.
In this talk, Alain Durand of ICANN analyzes the state of IPv6 deployment around the world, and asks, are we creating two distinct internets – and does this create a “digital divide” between the old and the new protocols?