We received an e-mail today shedding some light about Akamai’s intentions around the IPv6 switch, which takes place in June. After 40 years and 2 billion internet users, we’ve run through the 40 billion IPv4 addresses, and now the whole web is getting ready for the switch to IPv6 and 3.4 × 1038 new addresses due in June 8.  Our News Editor Kristen Nicole even interviewed Citrix’s Greg Smith, Senior Director in the cloud and networking product group about the subject, and now Akamai is also jumping on board.

“Akamai is using its global network to help companies bridge the gap. By allowing customers to maintain their IPv4 origin sites for as long as they wish, but guiding them toward the switch, customers will be poised to leave their old addresses behind by World IPv6 Day, June 8th.”

Akamai’s intentions are the latest in an industry wide shift that will cooperatively take us into the next era of the internet, with high hopes for a smooth transition.  But the IPv6 has been referred to as the Y2K of this era, and it’s no wonder, considering all the concerns around the difficulties users may come to face.

Akamai is one of the key players in the cloud industry, but while the web application optimization vendor is gearing up for IPv6, its stocks are skidding down the NASDAQ hill. Bloomberg reports Akamai’s share fell 16 percent after the company said its being forced into lowering its prices by its competitors. This means Akamai’s stock is down 22 percent year-to-date, and the weakest one in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index.

But Akamai is not the only one who has seen its shares fall – Cisco fell 13 percent in early trading after the company reported Q4 income declined by 18 percent due to lower sales to governmental agencies; a problem which Bloomberg thinks may worsen over the next few quarters.