According to a recent report by ICANN, (the International Corporation for the Assignment of Names and Numbers), the global body that allocates IP (internet protocol) addresses, the world is rapidly running out of IP addresses.
Rod Beckstrom, ICANN chief executive, explained that only 8 or 9% of the original Ipv4 addresses remain, and that the only solution is to speed up the process of switching over to a new IP version.
In an interview with Reuters, he said, “We are running out. That move really needs to be made, we’re seeing this scarce resource run down.”
Ipv4 Insufficient
Ever since the internet became open to the public in the 1980’s, ICANN has assigned IP addresses based on the original Ipv4 system, which was designed to accommodate several billion IP addresses. The new system, known as Ipv6, on the other hand, has room for literally trillions of addresses.
With more and more devices, from phones to camera’s to game consoles connecting to the internet every day, and each one requiring a unique IP address, there’s little wonder that the existing system is getting used up.
Earlier in the year, Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg estimated that, within the next 10 years, some 50 billion devices will be connected to the internet.
Beckstrom, who was in Moscow to mark the activation of the first Cryllic domain name, concluded his comments on the issue by saying, “It’s a big management task and network operations task…but it’s going to have to happen because we humans are inventing so many devices that use the Internet now.”