What is IPv6 address notation and its advantages?

• A. Decimal groups separated by dots; 32-bit addresses
• B. Binary groups separated by slashes; 64-bit addresses
• C. Hexadecimal groups separated by colons; larger address space and improved autoconfiguration and multicast
• D. Octet-based notation with slashes; requires NAT

Answer: (C)

IPv6 addresses are written as eight groups of four hexadecimal digits separated by colons, totaling 128 bits. This hexadecimal-colon notation is what distinguishes IPv6 from IPv4’s decimal dotted format. The large 128-bit address space is a primary advantage, enabling vastly more devices to be addressed directly and supporting features like stateless address autoconfiguration (SLAAC) and built-in multicast. NAT, which grew out of IPv4 address scarcity, isn’t a design requirement for IPv6 because there are enough addresses to assign unique end-to-end connectivity. Choices that describe decimal groups with dots, or use slashes or binary groups, don’t reflect how IPv6 addresses are written or managed.