diff --git a/cake/libs/cache/memcache.php b/cake/libs/cache/memcache.php
index 760c8338428..32df6f0ab13 100644
--- a/cake/libs/cache/memcache.php
+++ b/cake/libs/cache/memcache.php
@@ -81,12 +81,7 @@ function init($settings = array()) {
 			$return = false;
 			$this->__Memcache =& new Memcache();
 			foreach ($this->settings['servers'] as $server) {
-				$parts = explode(':', $server);
-				$host = $parts[0];
-				$port = 11211;
-				if (isset($parts[1])) {
-					$port = $parts[1];
-				}
+				list($host, $port) = $this->_parseServerString($server);
 				if ($this->__Memcache->addServer($host, $port)) {
 					$return = true;
 				}
@@ -96,6 +91,31 @@ function init($settings = array()) {
 		return true;
 	}
 
+/**
+ * Parses the server address into the host/port.  Handles both IPv6 and IPv4
+ * addresses
+ *
+ * @param string $server The server address string.
+ * @return array Array containing host, port
+ */
+	function _parseServerString($server) {
+		if (substr($server, 0, 1) == '[') {
+			$position = strpos($server, ']:');
+			if ($position !== false) {
+				$position++;
+			}
+		} else {
+		    $position = strpos($server, ':');
+		}
+		$port = 11211;
+		$host = $server;
+		if ($position !== false) {
+			$host = substr($server, 0, $position);
+			$port = substr($server, $position + 1);
+		}
+		return array($host, $port);
+	}
+
 /**
  * Write data for key into cache.  When using memcache as your cache engine
  * remember that the Memcache pecl extension does not support cache expiry times greater 
diff --git a/cake/tests/cases/libs/cache/memcache.test.php b/cake/tests/cases/libs/cache/memcache.test.php
index 8eca01af66a..695416952fd 100644
--- a/cake/tests/cases/libs/cache/memcache.test.php
+++ b/cake/tests/cases/libs/cache/memcache.test.php
@@ -134,6 +134,24 @@ function testConnect() {
 		$this->assertTrue($result);
 	}
 
+/**
+ * test connecting to an ipv6 server.
+ *
+ * @return void
+ */
+	function testConnectIpv6() {
+		$Memcache =& new MemcacheEngine();
+		$result = $Memcache->init(array(
+			'prefix' => 'cake_',
+			'duration' => 200,
+			'engine' => 'Memcache',
+			'servers' => array(
+				'[::1]:11211'
+			)
+		));
+		$this->assertTrue($result);
+	}
+
 /**
  * testReadAndWriteCache method
  *