Cisco will participate in World IPv6 Day.

World IPv6 Day will take place on June 8, 2011, hosted by the international professional organization ISOC. Cisco has already confirmed its participation. On this day, a 24-hour international test of the new version of IP will take place. The address pool for the fourth version of this protocol (IPv4) is nearly exhausted, and only the new version—IPv6—can solve this problem.

Cisco began developing IPv6 standards and products over ten years ago. Over the years, the company has helped a number of large and relatively small customers implement IPv6 in their networks.

Cisco considers this event unprecedented in both scale and the number of participants. Numerous major web companies, internet service providers, and enterprises will attempt to unify their IPv6 systems into a single environment on a single day. This will be accomplished using a switch that operates in the global Domain Name System (DNS) and translates website names into IP addresses.

Many websites have already been converted to IPv6, but to access them, users often have to enter a special DNS name.

During World IPv6 Day, Cisco and other companies will advertise the www.cisco.com website address in the DNS system in both IPv4 and IPv6 formats. Proper use of this protocol may require additional configuration and connection to an IPv6 network, although IPv6 support is built into most popular operating systems. Even with IPv4 and IPv6 configured correctly, significant delays may occur when using the new IP version due to the IPv4/IPv6 selection logic used by desktop computers, tablets, and phones.

Companies participating in World IPv6 Day will aim to help the industry assess, test, and overcome these challenges.