network

Vista, the next version of Microsoft Windows, is going to support IPv6 natively. IPv6 is the next-generation of Internet Protocol, which adds a swathe of enhancements to the more widespread IPv4 which has been used in previous versions.

IPv6 has a number of features to make autoconfiguration (when the computer works out all it needs to know about the network by looking at the network itself, rather than from endless dialog boxes) easier; multicast (when a single computer broadcasts a single stream of data to many other computers) more efficient; routing faster and the whole lot significantly more secure.

IPv6 is widely seen as key to allowing very large numbers of devices to connect to the Internet simultaneously. Whereas previously IPv4 supports 4.3×10^9 (4.3 billion) simultaneous connections, IPv6 supports 3.4×10^38 addresses: billions of addresses per person.

A research version of the IPv6 ``stack'' for windows has been kicking around for at least six years, and appears to be stable and interoperable, so it seems unlikely to be cut from Vista. While the stack implements IPSec (the optional security module of IPv6), it is not clear whether it is likely to be widely used in windows environments.