IP Addresses are Going, Going, GONE!

The remaining IPv4 Addresses (Internet Protocol Version 4) that many people use on a daily basis (like 123.456.123.456) are in the final process of being allocated to the five Regional Internet Registries (RIR).

An announcement was made yesterday by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which manages the release of all IP addresses and domain extensions around the globe. The huge increase in the number of electronic devices around the world is causing the global supply of IPv4 addresses to quickly dry up. This has prompted ICANN to delegate the allocation of all remaining IPv4 addresses to the Regional Internet Registries.

What is the solution? IPv6 Addresses!

IPv6 was released in 1998 and unlike the old IPv4 address which supported only 3.4 billion unique addresses, IPv6 was designed to support 3.4 x 10^38 or 340 undecillion addresses or 340 trillion trillion trillion addresses.

ICANN encourages everyone from network operators to everyday consumers to start adopting IPv6 which will allow for the rapid growth of the internet to continue.

For the full ICANN announcement, visit to http://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2-2014-05-20-en.