The Indian government has asked all the internet service providers (ISP) in the country to shift the web traffic to the newer IP version 6 as the older IP version 4 is expected to run out in January 2012.

The demand for new web addresses has grown significantly around the world and the IPV4 has only about 4.2 billion new addresses left. The increasing numbers of smartphones, PCs, televisions, refrigerators, cameras, tablets, and other electronic devices all demand new IP addresses.

Experts have been recommending the shift to a newer version due to the limited capability of IPV4. The complete transition is expected to take about three years. The ministry of IT & communications has issued a directive asking all the central and state government ministries to start using the IPv6 addresses by March 2012.

A task force has been formed by the government for the implementation of IPv6. It will also help firms in the transition to the new version. The steps taken by India government are inline with most other countries who are work to shift to the new version before IPV4 runs out of newer addresses.

The IPv6 Forum, which is an international organization promoting the use of IP has marked May 30, 2011 as the date when the internet would runout of new IP addresses.