Internet Protocol version 6, known as IPv6, is the new kid on the block when it comes to Internet addressing, the system by which computers can be uniquely identified on the Internet and data routed through to them. It offers so many Internet addresses that we need a word so little used that it doesn't even appear in dictionaries right now: IPv6 offers over well 340 addresses.

However, IPv6 has actually been around since the late 1990s, when it was created to supersede the older v4 of the Internet Protocol scheme (IPv4). The rapid implementation of IPv6 at the moment has been made imperative by .

Although IPv6 is arguably on its way (, for example), there are a surprising number of bananas in the road.

In fact, it's extraordinary that we're at the stage of rolling out a world-changing technology when so many issues are yet to be addressed.

For example, a surprising number of home and small business routers still don't offer IPv6. You , for example, although Cisco--the parent company of Linksys--says that the functionality will be added to new Linksys products real soon now, and firmware updates will be made available for products sold recently.