Apparatus for performing load balancing among network servers connected to an internal IPv6 network. The apparatus comprises a first interface coupled to an external IPv4 or IPv6 network for receiving packets sent across the external network and an IP packet creator coupled to said first interface. This IP packet creator is configured, for each received packet at that interface, to select a network server to be allocated to the packet or identify an already allocated network server. The IP packet creator is further configured to create a corresponding IPv6 packet for transmission over said internal network to the selected or identified network server, including performing the following tasks: (a) include the source IP address of the received packet in the source IP address field of the IPv6 packet header, (b) include at least a part of the destination IP address field of the received packet in the destination IP address field of the IPv6 packet header, and (c) include an address of the selected or identified network server into the destination IP address field of the IPv6 packet header, The apparatus further comprises a second interface coupled to said internal IPv6 network for transmitting created IPv6 packets across the internal network towards respective selected or identified network servers.