World IPv6 Day prompts migration concerns

Meanwhile, Mark Lewis, vice president of development at cloud service platform provider Interoute, said IPv6 adoption could leave companies vulnerable to malware and viruses.

"The introduction of IPv6 effectively opens a series of new back doors for viruses to sneak through," he claimed.

"Organisations need to consider whether their network and security hardware supports IPv6 and then formulate plans that facilitate the secure running of IPv4 and IPv6 devices and applications side-by-side.

"If you consider how ubiquitous IP devices are in the workplace, and the wealth of applications in an average organisation, this will not be an easy task," warned Lewis.

Andrew Mulholland, business solutions manager at router manufacturer D-Link, said, despite the arrival of World IPv6 Day, companies still have time to plan their migration to IPv6.

"Ultimately, all devices on the network will need to be IPv6 compliant in order to communicate with each other and allow access to users from IPv6 addresses," explained Mulholland.

"Starting to make preparations now can remove the headache and the cost of replacing the whole network in one go in the future."