Am I confused about I2?

[Carlosinfl]

Is Internet 2 not the same things as IPv6? I thought IPv6 had 128 bit i.p. address schemes.

 

[ThomasE66]

They are two different things. Internet 2 is a super high speed network currently used mostly for academic research. IPv6 is the next generation version of IP, with a virtually inexhaustable range of addresses plus other features.

http://www.internet2.edu/

http://www.ipv6.org/

 

[Carlosinfl]

Are we likely to use one over the other? I was told that IPv6 will never become a standard and will eventually be scrapped.

 

[Orinthical]

Both projects are far from being scrapped. =) We're implementing IPv6 right now, we've been testing it for about three years now... it's going to become a requirement for us and a necessity for everyone else eventually, considering the need for more and more IP numbers, even with supernetting there simply isn't enough of them with IPv4.

As for Internet-2, whether it ever becomes public access or not we'll simply have to wait and see. Right now it's solely the domain of acedemic and government systems, but then again so was the original Internet just a few years ago. =)

 

[BobSutan]

Info on IPv6

IPv6 is intended to replace the previous standard, IPv4, which only supports up to about 4 billion (4 × 109) addresses, whereas IPv6 supports up to about 3.4 × 1038 (340 undecillion) addresses. This is the equivalent of 4.3 × 1020 (430 quintillion) addresses per inch² (6.7 × 1017 (670 quadrillion) addresses/mm²) of the Earth's surface.

430 quintillion addresses per square inch of the Earth
A quintillion is a 10 with 18 zeros behind it.

Related info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_large_numbers

 

[Malk-a-mite]

430 quintillion addresses per square inch of the Earth

As long as we're linking:
http://www.internet2.edu/about/

Internet2 is a consortium being led by 207 universities working in partnership with industry and government to develop and deploy advanced network applications and technologies, accelerating the creation of tomorrow's Internet. Internet2 is recreating the partnership among academia, industry and government that fostered today´s Internet in its infancy.