IP Address Shortage Coming Soon

According to InformationWeek.com, with less than a year’s worth of Internet addresses left, the call for the technology industry to move faster to adopt the next-generation Internet protocol is growing louder.

Where the current protocol IPv4 has less than 231.5 million addresses left, the IPv6 protocol would open up a virtually unlimited number of the unique identifiers for computers, mobile phones and other web-connected devices. Unlike domain names typed in a browser, an IP address is a sequence of numbers assigned to each device for the machine-to-machine communication necessary to operate on the Internet.

IPv6 has been around for several years, but the industry as a whole has been slow in moving to the new protocol, partly because it will require that web-connected devices be reconfigured or upgraded. In addition, Internet service providers and websites would also have to make changes.

Given the expense, it’s understandable that many organizations are reluctant to make the move. However, pressure is mounting that the government and businesses move faster in making the transition.