MUMBAI, India -- Verizon helps the industry mark an important Internet milestone by participating in the World IPv6 Day.

People around the world have been eagerly waiting to try the new Internet addressing system, which is called Internet Protocol version 6, or IPv6. Verizon is expecting that many users will take advantage of the Internet Society’s (ISOC) World IPv6 Day “test flight,” which begins today at 8 p.m. ET (0000 Universal Coordinated Time). The company has made preparations to handle the increased traffic and to answer customers’ questions.

The current Internet addressing system, Internet Protocol version 4, which has been in place since the 1980s, eventually will be replaced by the new Internet protocol version 6 because the pool of IPv4 addresses is nearly depleted. The new IPv6 addressing system will expand the number of possible addresses from approximately 4 billion with IPv4 to roughly 340 trillion trillion trillion IPv6 addresses.

“World IPv6 Day marks an important industry milestone with the first global-scale trial of IPv6,” said Jean McManus, executive director of Verizon’s Corporate Technology organization. “Verizon was an early promoter and adopter of IPv6 back in the mid-1990s. It is very positive to see interest in IPv6 continuing to grow, and World IPv6 Day has just added to the IPv6 momentum.”

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ)