IPv6 address - technical definition

A binary number that uniquely identifies a host computer connected to the Internet and running the IPv6 protocol suite.The IP packet header provides an originating address field so that a host can identify itself as the originator of a packet.The IP packet header also provides a destination address field so that an originating host can identity the target host for which a packet is intended. Based on that information, the Internet routers can act to deliver the packet to the target host, which can respond to the originating host, as appropriate.The IPv6 address field size is 128 bits, which yields the theoretical potential for 2 128 or 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 unique addresses. At this level, the dotted decimal notation convention employed in IPv4 becomes cumbersome, so an IPv6 address comprises 8 sections separated by colons and expressed as x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x where each x represents 16 bits defined in hexadecimal notation. Following are example IPv6 addresses: FEDC:BA98:7654:3210:FEDC:BA98:7654:3210 1080:0000:0000:0000:0008:0800:200C:417A with each field given a value in decimal notation of 0