IPv6 for Internet Protocol Version 6. A next-generation protocol that offers a much larger IP address reach than IPv4. Unlike its predecessor, IP addresses are 128-bit encrypted. Thus, instead of a succession of decimal digits, the IPv6 addresses take the form of hexadecimal writing with 8 groups of 2 bytes. An IPv6 address looks like: 9bd4:912d:12a2:24d:60ff:fe38:6d16.