What is The Difference Between IPv6 and IPv4?
Confused by phrases like Internet Protocol (IP), IPv6, IPv4 and IPng? Webopedia explains the difference between IPv4 and IPv6, and looks at the topic of migrating to a 128-bit address space.
What is Internet Protocol (IP)?
IP (short for Internet Protocol) specifies the technical format ofpackets and the addressing scheme for computers to communicate over a network. Most networks combine IP with a higher-level protocol called Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), which establishes a virtual connection between a destination and a source.
IP by itself can be compared to something like the postal system. It allows you to address a package and drop it in the system, but there’s no direct link between you and the recipient. TCP/IP, on the other hand, establishes a connection between two hosts so that they can send messages back and forth for a period of time.