Google and Facebook to promote IPv6 in 24-hour test drive

World IPv6 Day scheduled for 8 June

Google, Facebook and other leading tech companies will jointly promote the adoption of IPv6 by enabling the internet protocol on their web sites for 24 hours.

The stunt, dubbed World IPv6 Day, aims to encourage widespread adoption of the IPv6 address format.

Currently, the vast majority of internet infrastructure uses the IPv4 format. But these are beginning to run out, and adoption of IPv6 is regarded by many as the only way to ensure the continued expansion of the internet.

"The transition to IPv6 is one of the most important steps we will take together to protect the internet as we know it," said Vint Cerf, one of the founding fathers of the internet, and now Google's chief internet evangelist.

"It's as if the internet was originally designed with a limited number of telephone numbers, and we're soon going to run out."

Google has been supporting IPv6 since early 2008, when it was first offered for search.

But the 24-hour test drive will mark the largest trial of the system to date. Google expects the 99.5 per cent of its users to be unaffected by the day-long hop onto IPv6.

"Over the coming months we will be working with application developers, operating system vendors and network device manufacturers to further minimise the impact and provide testing tools and advice for users," said Lorenzco Colitti, a network engineer at Google.

"The number of web-connected devices is exploding, and World IPv6 Day is a crucial step in ensuring they can all communicate," said Jonathan Heiliger, vice president of technical operations at Facebook.

According to Google's analysis, just 0.2 per cent of internet users have native IPv6 connectivity.

World IPv6 day will take place on 8 June 2011.