An IPv4 address has 32 bits, so there are 232 (over 4 billion) possible IPv4 addresses. Since the Internet is gaining devices quickly, we will soon surpass 232 unique devices on the Internet.In anticipation of all the new Internet devices, we are in the process of switching to IPv6, which uses 128 bits for a single address. That’s 96 extra bits to represent one address!Which of the following statements correctly describes how many more addresses will be possible to represent by switching from IPv4 to IPv6?

The switch from IPv4 to IPv6 increases the number of possible addresses exponentially. While IPv4 allows for over 4 billion addresses (2^32), IPv6, with its 128 bits, allows for 2^128 addresses. This is not simply 96 times more addresses (which would be the case if we were adding 96 more bits to the 32 bits of IPv4), but rather 2^96 times more addresses. This is because each additional bit doubles the number of possible addresses. So, the switch to IPv6 allows for a vastly larger number of addresses than IPv4.