First developed in 1995, IPv6 is the next generation of the internet that replaces the internet protocol version 4 or IPv4. IPv6 was originally developed primarily to increase the number of unique addresses available for identifying devices that connect to the internet as the proliferation of smart phones, pads, laptops and other electronic devices around the world quickly exhausts I.P addresses on the IPv4 network. Additionally, Ipv6 offers more advanced security and privacy options.

IPv6 is not backward-compatible with IPv4, so devices using IPv4 cannot directly communicate with devices using IPv6, and vice versa.