IPv6 is the replacement for IPv4, the protocol used to send and receive network traffic. The main benefit of the new version is that it offers an almost unlimited number of IP addresses. This is important as the number of internet users and connected devices, each requiring a unique IP address, is set to increase rapidly over the next few years.

Although operating systems such as Unix and Linux already support IPv6, there is expected to be a huge increase in usage with the release of Windows Vista, the next version of the Microsoft operating system, next year.

Roy Hills, technical director at internet research firm NTA Monitor, warned that many users do not fully understand IPv6. "Since people have not had to use it there has been no requirement for systems administrators to understand IPv6," he said.