IP Apocalypse: Fact or Fiction?

Recently announcements about the last IPv4 block being assigned have created consumer concern that the Internet will “run out,” and those familiar with the technology calling this IPv4’s “funeral.” Fortunately for our web-centric society, the Information Superhighway is not about to dead-end. In fact, IP infrastructure is at a crossroads, but this does not by any means spell the end of the IP world, as we know it.

The current IP version 4 (IPv4) provides approximately 4 billion unique addresses, which service 99.7 percent of the Web. While there may be concern about the “end” of IPv4, these concerns are distinctly overblown. The IPv4 standard will continue to be viable for some time due to the fact that every device does not need one of these 4 billion IP address. Techniques such as NAT (Network Address Translation) currently extend address space by creating sub-networks that assign blocks of IP addresses to devices that need them.

At the most basic level, a home or office router allows a home or office to connect all its devices – PC’s, printers, wifi-enabled gadgets, maybe even a space-aged coffee maker – by sharing one IP address. So essentially, the current generation of home and corporate networking equipment will continue to support your PCs just fine. ISPs also play a role in maximizing the use of each address by assigning IP addresses dynamically to most home customers. Even with millions of devices accessing them, it is unlikely that all 4 billion addresses would be in use at the same time. In fact, allocation doesn’t equal use: it’s impossible to prove that we are actually using every allocated IP address.

However after years of talk, the industry is finally starting to plan more actively for IPv6. Many major content publishers like Facebook, Google, and Yahoo have launched domains for IPv6 native customers and on the ISP side Verizon Wireless now assigns an IPv6 address to every 4G wireless data customer. The industry is holding IPv6 day to bring attention to the growing IPv6 deployments.

IPv6 has actually been around for a while. The specification, RFC 1752, was written in 1995 — but hasn’t become relevant until recently. The main reason IPv6 is important now, is that we have used up the available IPv4 address space. And, Quova has been delivering IPv6 specific geolocation data to our customers for over 2 years. We are using our experience and resources to support our customers in a seamless transition from IPv4 only to dual mode IPv4/IPv6 world that we will increasingly face in the next several years. Though there is no authoritative answer as to when IPv4 addresses will run out, recent reports from the Regional Internet Registries said that only 8% of the IPv4 addresses are unallocated and the remaining addresses are expected to run out by 2012.