Due to the slow transition to IPv6, the internet will have no IP addresses left within a year. This is caused by an explosion in the number of devices, all of which need their own IP address.
This is what John Curran, head of the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN), told ReadWriteWeb. His remarks support earlier statements by Google’s internet evangelist Vint Cerf, who said the same. Others had previously issued similar warnings.
Curran attributes the rapid depletion of IP addresses to a large increase in devices that also need an address. This also applies to small sensors, RFID chips, and other devices that belong to the so?called Internet of Things. The rising number of mobile devices that connect to the internet is also accelerating the exhaustion of IP addresses.
Slow transition
The problem lies mainly in the use of IPv4. Each IPv4 address is a number of up to 32 bits, which amounts to just over 4 billion unique addresses. The next generation, IPv6, uses 128?bit addresses, enabling a far larger number of unique addresses. In principle, this should be enough to give every person on earth 4 billion IP addresses.
According to Curran, 6 percent of IPv4 addresses are currently still unallocated. He expects those will also be claimed within a year. Curran says it is the task of internet service providers to prevent problems. Large content providers such as Facebook and Google must also ensure that the transition from IPv4 to IPv6 proceeds smoothly. This transition is gradually getting underway, but implementation is moving too slowly, says Curran. Facebook and Google have already indicated they are working on the switch to using IPv6 addresses.
Criticism
According to critics, the depletion of IPv4 addresses is not as bad as it seems. The problem is compared to the millennium bug; back then there were warnings about major problems, but ultimately nothing happened. Others see a solution in Network Address Translation (NAT). With this technique, multiple IP addresses are bundled so that fewer unique addresses are needed. Google called this option too complicated in 2008.