General Information

The unique numbers used by internet-connected devices to communicate with each other are called Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. IP, located in the network layer of the TCP/IP protocol suite, enables the addressing of internet-connected devices and the proper routing of data packets to be received or sent within the network to their target addresses. Every device connected to the internet must have an IP address. Although various versions of IP addresses have been developed, IPv4 is still the most widely used.

In its early years, the internet was used only in academic studies by a limited number of users; due to the increase in computer usage and the widespread adoption of mobile communication devices, today it is used by every segment of society in every area of life with a variety that challenges the limits of the imagination. On the other hand, IPv4, which is still widely used, has become unable to meet emerging needs such as quantity, service quality, security, mobility, and others in the face of rapidly increasing numbers of internet-connected devices due to developing and changing technology. To address these problems in IPv4, the Internet Engineering Task Force (Internet Engineering Task Force - IETF) developed and standardized the sixth version of IP, IPv6, also known as the "Next Generation Internet Protocol" (Internet Protocol Next Generation - IPng) in 1998.

The pool of IP addresses managed by IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority - Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) ran out of allocatable IPv4 addresses as of February 3, 2011. IPv6, on the other hand, can provide virtually unlimited IP addresses and solves the address exhaustion problem.

For more information on IPv6, you can refer to the "IPv6 Handbook."