Major internet service providers, networking equipment manufacturers and web companies around the world are migrating to a new version of Internet Protocol address from today onwards.

On the occasion of the world IPV6 launch Day across the globe, the Telecommunication Secretary Mr. R. Chandrasekhar said the transition will be complete in a phased and time bound manner in the country by 2020 to accommodate more consumers for different services.

AIR correspondent reports that all the government websites will be new technology compliant by the end of the year.

The traditional communication networks run on Internet Protocol which provides the addresses of the equipment. The current version of the Internet Protocol is IPV 4.

The biggest limitation of this 27 year old protocol is its 32-bit addressing space resulting in 4.3 billion addresses. With exponential growth of telecom services in several products, most of the addresses have been consumed.

The new IPV 6 improves on the addressing capacities of old system by using 128 bits.

This makes an infinite pool of IP addresses besides providing more security, autoconfiguration, host mobility and innovative applications. India has at present 35 million IPV4 addresses against 360 million data users.

In addition, government is planning to have a target of 160 million by 2017 and 600 million by 2020.