14 DAY TRIAL // Windows Vista will be situated at the heart of the next generation of IP addresses. Microsoft's latest operating system will provide the main infrastructure for the adoption of IPv6. The most recent predictions point out that by 2010, the current IPv4 addresses are expected to completely run out. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) and the Regional Internet Registries (RIR) are two sources, both pointing to 2010 as the year that will bring the end to IPv4 addresses.
In fact, the unallocated address pool exhaustion date is either 15-Mar-2010, according to IANA or 23-Oct-2010 in RIR's perspective. But as the volume of IPv4 addresses runs lower and lower, solutions are already in place designed to streamline the transition to IPv6.
"IPv6 is designed to solve many of the problems of the current version of IP (known as IPv4) such as address depletion, security, autoconfiguration, and extensibility. Its use will also expand the capabilities of the Internet to enable a variety of valuable and exciting scenarios, including peer-to-peer and mobile applications," revealed Microsoft TechNet.
Fortunately, Microsoft's Windows Vista is already here to save the day. Windows Vista is not the only platform delivering support for IPv6. But the latest operating system from Microsoft comes with an overhauled network protocol stack and with IPv6 as the default protocol.
"Support for Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), a new suite of standard protocols for the Network layer of the Internet, is built into the latest versions of Microsoft Windows, which include Windows Vista, Windows Server Code Name "Longhorn," Windows Server 2003, Windows XP with Service Pack 2, Windows XP with Service Pack 1, Windows XP Embedded SP1, and Windows CE .NET," Microsoft added.
Taking into consideration the fact that Vista will take the place of Windows XP, and grow to become a ubiquitous operating system, the platform will act as a foundation for the wide adoption of IPv6.