Aussie telco Telstra has opened the gates to IPv6, offering enterprise, government and wholesale customers access to the next generation of internet addresses.

Telstra’s internet backbone is now fully dual-stacked, which means customers can be connected with either IPv4 or IPv6. The current IPv4 offers 32 bits for an internet address, and is rapidly reaching its capacity of 4 billion addresses. IPv6 has 128 bits or “more internet addresses than grains of sand on the planet".

Telstra’s director of transport and routing, David Robertson, said: “We have had a long-term roadmap for deploying IPv6 capability into our networks, and are pleased that the first of many access options are now available for our customers to commence their transition to IPv6. The deployment of IPv6 into the network is an ongoing programme of work, and we’ll make this available for other networks such as DSL and our wireless networks over time,” he said.

If customers choose to opt in to IPv6, they will have access to the global IPv6 internet, including connectivity to multiple providers internationally.

Telstra will be working with individual customers who have expressed an interest in moving to IPv6 to help them through the transition.

“In coming years we expect that IPv6 will become the norm and customers will need to opt out if they wish to use IPv4. However in the early phases of the transition, we’ll be working directly with customers to support them as they make this change,” Robertson added. ®