Internet addresses to run out by 2011

Experts have warned that internet addresses based on the current scheme (IPv4) will run out in 2011 or by early 2012, according to a report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The OECD is a forum where the governments of thirty democracies collaborate to address the economic, social and environmental challenges of globalisation.

In their annual Communications Outlook report, the OECD has found that while growth in broadband subscriptions have fuelled the expansion of the internet, it also represents a downside. Global internet hosts grew 33% to reach 540 million in January 2008 but over half of all hosts (287 million) had a generic top-level domain rather than one tied to a country code.

“This growth in the number of networks, and devices attached to those networks has led to a shortage of unique Internet addresses used to identify individual devices connected to the Internet. As a result, there is a need for all network operators to upgrade to a new Internet addressing scheme, Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6),” the report states.

IPv4 addresses are capped at a maximum of 2^32 (a little more than four billion) unique addresses, while the next evolution IPv6 allows for 2^128, which will accommodate the rapid expansion of the internet over the coming years.

Print | Email | Discuss this article

| Share |

READERS' COMMENTS

Thank you.
Posted by Balzer, Perkasie, PA, US on Sunday 16 August 2009 at 11:11 UAE time


AndrewG, Thanks for spotting my error. You are correct that each part of the IP(V4) address can be from 0-255 (0 through 2^8) and it is in decimal form.

Jebel Ali Baba, thanks for pointing out that this applies only to fixed IP addresses, as many devices (even some www.domain-names) share a common IP address. With V6, it should be possible to assign each device and domain name to a unique IP. That may or may not be a blessing.

Correction
Posted by Vineetha Menon, Dubai on Sunday 16 August 2009 at 10:49 UAE time


Thanks for your comments - the article has now been modified to correct factual errors.

Wrong IP
Posted by Walid on Sunday 16 August 2009 at 10:36 UAE time


The example IP can't have a number bigger than 254 so 167.982.0.0 is invalid

Not just Servers and computers
Posted by Jebel Ali Baba, Dubai, UAE on Saturday 15 August 2009 at 15:48 UAE time


And one has to consider that many online devices like cameras, mobile phones aso. also use IP addresses. So the IPv4 address spave is really small. BTW: Nobody can exactly tell how many servers or computers are online in the Internet. The only exact figure which is known are domains linked to fixed IP addresses.

View all comments (8) >>

Click here to post a comment

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic. Arabian Business would like to point out that only comments relevant to the story will be published. Any containing personal insults or inappropriate language will not be approved.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Enter the words above *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM