The number of IP addresses made available by the current mathematics of the Web will soon be inadequate. Thursday a non-profit called the International Assigned Numbers Authority allocated the remaining 5 packages of the 4.3 billion IP addresses it manages for distribution. When the current supply of IP addresses runs dry, a bigger, better Internet protocol is poised to take over. Pretty soon IP addresses might become so rare the prices might increase, causing people to have to take out payday advances just for one.
The old internet is on its last legs
There will be the last IP addresses dispersed throughout the world. This is because the Regional Web Registries, or RIR, got the last ones on Thursday. The 4.3 billion locations that the Internet Protocol version 4, IPv4, started in 1981, is being depleted. But the internet won’t run out of IP addresses for a while. RIRs will lease them to ISPs and wireless carriers and web hosting companies. Some IP addresses are permanently assigned, others are pulled from a stash when routers or smartphones go online. It is generally believed that six to nine months will elapse before there are no more IPv4 addresses left.
How the new internet plays in this
This was something seen by the IANA and other groups. In 1999, a new system called Internet Protocol version 6, or IPv6, was started. The 32-bit number and decimal notation 192.149.252.76 were used for IPv4 addresses. IPv6 addresses use 128-bit numbers and letters as well as hexadecimal (base-16) notation: 3FFE:F200:0234:AB00:0123:4567:8901:ABCD. What is the point of the extra numbers? There are 340 undecillon, or 340 trillion packages for servers, routers, PC’s, smartphones, vehicles, appliances or anything else on networks that can hold a trillion servers.
change from IPv4 to IPv6 to be seen
The average consumer and business won’t have any trouble switching from the IPv4 system to IPv6. Anybody in the web infrastructure will not enjoy the change as much though. There isn’t any compatibility between IPv4 and IPv6. Communication between IPv4 and IPv6 is impossible. It cannot occur right now. The 1981 internet is bound to fill up eventually. When this happens, the IPv4 and IPv6 can coexist together. Software and hardware developers have been creating transition technology and the latest operating systems include default support for IPv6. There’s no need to panic. Remember Y2K?
Citations
CNET
news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20030482-264.html
CNN
cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/02/03/internet.addresses.gone/index.html?npt=NP1
Mashable
mashable.com/2011/01/22/the-internet-is-running-out-of-space-kind-of/