As previously reported by Infosecurity, World IPv6 Day is an event sponsored and organised by the Internet Society and several large content providers to test public IPv6 deployments in a real world situation.
Whilst IPv6 includes a number of security enhancements, security solution providers have been reporting that the transition to IPv6 could create security challenges for their customers, exposing more vulnerabilities and increasing the risk of attack.
With IPv4 addresses beginning to run out globally and a huge increase in networked devices predicted, Erik Kline, IPv6 Software Engineer at Google has described the new standard as "critical to the long term prosperity of the open internet."
Jay Parikh, director of engineering at Facebook, who were also supporting World IPv6 day, said that his team has been working with their peers to keep the Internet open and make sure all computers and devices stay connected.
Over at NetBenefit, the managed hosting provider, Darren Wiltshire, the firm's head of technical engineering, said he had been preparing for IPv6 for several months, ensuring that both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses can co-exist within the NetBenefit hosting environment.
"Although IPv6 represents a whole new world of opportunities, there are still a lot of devices, websites and networks that rely on IPv4 and we will continue to support both standards, though customers can now start to experiment with IPv6 hosting", he said.
Wiltshire added IPv6 is a 128 bit addressing system which theoretically allows for about 670 quadrillion IP addresses. This will, he explained, sustain growth demands of new IP addresses for future years.
"Due to the large, almost infinite, number of IPv6 addresses, NetBenefit will now offer our customers a larger pool of IP number choices, such as an IP address for every internet connected device, removing the need for network address translations", he said.
"With IPv4 ranges we are often limited to single digits, whereas with the growing proliferation of internet connectivity on devices from cameras to mobile phones, we are confident that IPv6 will satisfy new emerging technical demands", he added.
Wiltshire went on to say that his team reviewed all of its systems and infrastructure - from provisioning and billing to network and router configurations - in order to cope with the IPv6 extended addressing system.
Infosecurity will be posting a second analysis of how World IPv6 Day affected the global internet tomorrow.