SEOUL (WiMAX Day). Korea’s leading broadband operator KT Corp announced yesterday that it has developed an upgrade to its existing WiBro network (the Korean version of mobile WiMAX using 2.3 GHz) that will use IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6).

IPv6 is the next generation of Internet technology IP standards that allow data to be exchanged amongst devices. In addition to numerous security enhancements, IPv6 supports a greater number of IP addresses for devices connected to a network, a laptop computer or PDA, for example.

The current standard IPv4 supports a meagre 4.3 billion addresses, which is not sufficient as every device now requires a unique address. IPv6 is said to support 2¹²⁸ addresses, an infinitely large number that can provide over one million address for every person alive on the planet today.

In a report by The Korea Herald, Lee In-Won, an official of KT, stated: “This technology will help solve the shortage of available internet sources faced by global broadband operators who are rushing to adopt and spread mobile broadband services.”

The report also noted that KT is rumoured to be working with the Korean equipment manufacturer POSDATA on further development of IPv6.