IPv6 is supported by MCP networking. This section provides an overview of IPv6.

IPv6 is the next generation of the Internet Protocol. It is intended to remedy the impending shortage of IP addresses caused by the rapid expansion of the Internet and the growth of devices that are "connected" such as cell phones, PDAs, and home appliances. IPv6 uses a 128-bit address field instead of the 32-bit addresses used by IPv4. As a result, IPv6 affects a large number of MCP products — mainly those making use of IP addresses or facilitating the use of IP addresses for other products.

The new IPv6 software architecture is based on the current MCP host-resident TCP/IP architecture implemented for IPv4. The IPv6 protocol stack coexists with the existing IPv4 host-resident TCP/IP protocol stack. This dual-stack IP architecture enables applications to operate over IPv4 and IPv6 simultaneously and provides the transition mechanism for migrating from IPv4 networks to IPv6 networks. This architecture also permits a ClearPath MCP host to participate in a mixed network topology of IPv4-only hosts, IPv6-only hosts, and hosts capable of supporting both IPv4 and IPv6.