Mars may need guitars, but here on earth we could really use some more IP addresses. One of IPv6's advantages is an expanded IP address space (128-bit addresses vs. 32-bit). Other advantages of IPv6 are integrated autoconfiguration for plug-and-play capability, enhanced mobility features, end-to-end connectivity and security, and a hierarchical structure to allow the building of more complex networks. According to a recent article on EETimes.com , Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Motorola and Sun will support IPv6 with hardware and software. Two of Cisco's partners have rolled out IPv6-enabled products. Hewlett-Packard and Sun have implemented a dual-stack architecture on their respective Internet servers. The main problem with the current Internet infrastructure that these folks are trying to fix is that some countries are running out of IP addresses and that we'll need even more to satisfy our yen for Internet-enabled mobile devices.