IPv4 uses 32 bits for address length, containing 4 octets represented in dotted-decimal notation. The available IPv4 address pool began to shrink rapidly as the demand for addresses grew exponentially with the expansion of the Internet.

To address this issue, the IETF initiated the development of a replacement protocol, IPv6, in 1994.

IPv6 uses 128-bit addresses and hexadecimal numbers to represent each address segment, which greatly increases the number of available addresses.

• Exhaustion of IPv4 address space
• Growth of connected devices and services
• Need for global end-to-end connectivity
• Better support for modern networking requirements

IPv6 was designed to replace IPv4 and provide a scalable, long-term addressing system for the Internet.