World IPv6 Day Will See Google Go All-IPv6 On June 8 2011

World IPv6 Day may not have any cool floats or a parade, but if you spend any of your time online then it'll arguably be more important. Set to take place on June 8 2011, the day will see Google and others run a "24-hour test flight" of the next-gen internet protocol, switching their sites to IPv6 for a whole day.

According to Google, "in rare cases, users may experience connectivity problems, often due to misconfigured or misbehaving home network devices" when that happens, but the search giant will be working with developers, OS vendors and network device manufacturers to try to make sure the test – and the eventual IPv6 transition – goes smoothly. In fact, the company reckons that 99.95-percent of people won't notice any difference.

If you're interested in testing your IPv6 readiness now, the Internet Society has a test you can use. If you run a site, meanwhile, you can find guidelines to ensuring it's IPv6-ready here. IPv4 addresses are predicted to run out this year, so the changeover isn't something that can be put off indefinitely.