The future of the internet lies in I Pv6, the new standard that will revolutionise the way of managing the net and which will allow the development of innovative services in a practically infinite way. This protocol, which appeared in 2004, will be the only one utilised by 2025, the year when 'protocol I Pv4' which is commonly used today, will definitively 'retire'. The University of Pisa, has officially adopted the I Pv6 well in advance, thus entering, from today, into the network of the future. The most evident characteristic of the new protocol is the vast availability of addresses. If I Pv4 offers 7 addresses for every million square metres of ground surface, the I Pv6 offers 666,000 billion billions for every square metre. Such a characteristic has decisive importance when we consider that the entering of India and China into the world of internet has literally 'dried up' the I Pv4 addresses that will definitively be used over the course of 2011. This is demonstrated also by Microsoft's decision to spend a good 7 and a half million dollars on buying 666 thousand I Pv4 addresses from the Canadian company Nortel, which is presently undergoing bankruptcy proceedings.
The University of Pisa, while still having considerable patrimony of I Pv4 addresses, has protected itself from possible market speculation by activating both the F Pv4 and I Pv6 protocols on its own network, thus guaranteeing a gradual and technologically prudent passage towards the new standard. Furthermore, the new I Pv6 protocol has other important characteristics, such as the management of data transmission quality and security and the simplification of the configuration and management of the IP networks. In other words, the standard I Pv6 is a modern protocol, studied specifically for the demands of the future.
The University of Pisa has been studying the new standard I Pv6 for a few years, and today it is one of the very first public administrations in Italy to adopt it in a realistic way. This will allow the University of Pisa (the only Italian public institution registered up until now) to take part in the I Pv6 World Day which will be held this 8 June. During this event participants will guarantee the accessability of their own institutional websites via I Pv6. The University of Pisa, together with multinational companies like Google, Facebook, Yahoo! And YouTube, has been accredited with the title 'Network operator', since it has activated the I Pv6 transport protocol data on its network, and the title 'Website owner', since it has rendered its own site www.unipi.it accessible in I Pv6.