What problem does IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) help to solve?

IPv6 was developed primarily to address the limitation of available IPv4 addresses. The IPv4 protocol, which uses 32-bit addresses, can provide around 4.3 billion unique addresses. However, with the explosive growth of the internet, the number of devices that require IP addresses has far surpassed this limit. This has led to a shortage of available IPv4 addresses, making it increasingly difficult to allocate unique addresses for new devices and services.

IPv6, with its 128-bit addressing scheme, drastically expands the number of potential IP addresses available, allowing for a virtually unlimited number of unique addresses. This means that each device can have its own unique IP address, facilitating better connectivity and communication over the internet.

The other choices do not accurately reflect the main purpose of IPv6. While there may be issues of address wastage and security concerns in earlier versions, they do not directly tackle the IPv4 address exhaustion problem as effectively as IPv6 does.