To help explain IPv6, Leo Vegoda has penned a piece for the ICANN
Blog saying "there are a lot of addresses and lots of new things to
learn if you are only familiar with an IPv4 environment. But as we
implement IPv6 across our networks we will see IPv6 addresses popping up
in mail headers, system logs, traceroutes and all sorts of other places
where IPv4 used to be used exclusively. Knowing quickly whether an
address is part of your own network or someone else's; whether an
address is intended for private use or Internet use; and knowing whether
an address is used by a transition mechanism or a native connection
will help save lots of time."
As part of the piece, Vegoda notes that "last year, ICANN staff worked with the staff at APNIC and the RIPE NCC to produce a single sheet that identified the key address groups, explained what they were and gave IPv4 examples of IPv4 equivalents where they existed. This year we have updated the sheet and you can grab a copy of the updated reference from here."
To read Vegoda's piece on the ICANN Blog, see:
blog.icann.org/2010/07/putting-ipv6-addresses-into-context/