SPOTLIGHT: Next-generation Internet addresses

The powers behind the Internet--no, not Al Gore, as far as we can tell--are pushing service providers to migrate to a standard called IPv6, or Next Generation Internet Protocol, before the current system runs out of IP addresses sometime next year. IPv6 not only lengthens IP addresses to allow many, many more combinations, it is said to open up new possibilities for mobile medical devices and quick deployment of mobile medical networks for emergency response. Column