IPv4 address stock dwindles as North American database runs dryby Dan Worth02 Jul 2015The number of available IPv4 address spaces has fallen so low that the US organisation responsible for handing out addresses has rejected a request because there was not enough stock.
The American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) posted a note on its website confirming the move, although it did not say from where the request had come.
“ARIN activated the IPv4 Unmet Requests policy this week with the approval of an address request that was larger than the available inventory in the regional IPv4 free pool,” said ARIN chief executive John Curran.
The move does not mean that there are no IPv4 addresses left, but that requests will have to be smaller to be accommodated or applicants will have to wait for blocks of address space to be returned.
Curran encouraged companies to consider the use of IPv6 instead. “ARIN also reminds organisations of the ample availability of IPv6 address space, and encourages organisations to evaluate IPv6 address space for their ongoing public internet network activities,” he said.
ARIN is the latest major holder of IPv4 addresses to confirm that it now has limited stock, after similar announcements by organisations in Asia in 2011, Europe in 2012 and Latin America in 2014.
Axel Pawlik, managing director of the European registry RIPE NCC, said that the situation at ARIN shows that individuals and businesses must start embracing IPv6 and the benefits it will bring.
“By giving each device a unique IP address, the next generation of internet-based technology is made possible. The ongoing proliferation of internet-connected devices and driverless cars cannot happen without IPv6,” he said.
IPv6 has a far larger pool of address spaces than IPv4. IPv6 has 340 trillion trillion trillion possible combinations, compared with 4.3 billion for IPv4.
The size of the potential IPv4 address space seemed adequate when internet protocols were first invented, but the proliferation of internet-connected devices has rapidly changed this.
The dwindling amount of IPv4 addresses means that their worth is increasing, something the UK government is hoping to cash in on by selling off around 17 million unused addresses that could be worth millions of pounds.
natteranno tutti e tutto o passiamo finalmente in massa agli ipv6?
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