The Internet is running out of it's 4.3 billion Internet addresses! No fear, for IPv6 is here!
IPv6 is a new version of internet addressing that will replace the current IPv4 version. The new IPv6 format will allow for 340 undecillion addresses compared to 4.3 billion addresses under IPv4. The last batch of IPv4 addresses were allocated in February, 2011.
As part of USDA's participation in World IPv6 day, the Department's home page ( http://www.usda.gov) will be offered via both IPv4 and IPv6 protocols starting Tuesday, June 7th at 8 pm Eastern time for a 24 hour period.
Even though USDA.gov and most other participants like Google, Facebook, Yahoo and Bing will be made available on IPv6 during this 24 hour period, most user systems won't be able to connect via IPv6 as not all internet providers are ready for it. However, users still coming through IPv4 clients will still be able to visit USDA.gov during the test period as it's being offered on both the protocols. That means that while we're messing around behind the scenes, you'll still get to the valuable resources you need on USDA.gov.
For more information, check out these IPv6 resources:
OMB Memo, "Transition to IPv6"