Dec 04 2007
ISP Addresses Running Out
This is Internet pioneer Vint Cerf, one of the founding fathers of the internet, and he is warning the ISP providers to get their act together and roll out the next generation of net addresses before the current ones run out in 2010.
Every device that goes online is allocated a unique IP address but the pool of numbers is finite and due to run out around 2010.
It seems that a new system known as IPv6 has been waiting in the wings for ten years, but needs to be switched on within the next couple of years to ensure that devices don’t drop off line. The rate of consumption of available remaining IPv4 numbers appears to be on track to run out in 2010/11.
Cerf is a guy to listen to. He is Google’s chief Internet evangelist and is still chairman of Icann, the body that oversees the internet.
The main issue seems to be that the current IPv4 isn’t compatible with the new IPv6, so two systems would be required to run side by side which is sure to dig into the profits of the ISP’s.
Source: http://www.gadgetell.com/2007/10/isp-addresses-running-out/
