It is now official. The entire North American region is out of IPv4 addresses, Wired reported. Internet Protocol (IP) addresses are assigned to each device that connects to the Internet. Each and every smartphone, tablet, PC, and any other device that can connect to the Net have a unique IP address.
The IPv4 protocol, when it was created some 40 years ago as a lab experiment, was allotted only 4.3 billion addresses, Fortune reported. But that number was deemed insufficient a long time ago. So, in the late 90s, IPv6 was created to eventually replace IPv4.
Unlike its predecessor, IPv6 will accommodate 430 undecillion addresses. That's a one followed by 36 zeroes and should be enough for the next generations. This solution, however, has one problem. The upgraded version is not compatible with the older one. For instance, a website that runs on IPv4 cannot be browsed by a device on IPv6 without the use of some kind of compatibility layer.
This poses a kind of chicken or the egg problem to content providers as many of them would rather wait for their consumers to start using the new protocol instead of updating their own services. Facebook and Google's initiatives, however, have made IPv6 much more popular.
There has been a waiting list for recycled IPv4 addresses with the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) for a while now. The fresh pool, however, seems totally squeegeed out already. ARIN gets its allotment of IP addresses from the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). According to this regulating body, even other regions are already running low on IPv4 addresses.
One of reasons for the accelerated depletion of IPv4 addresses is the Internet of Things, The Register reported. Nowadays, refrigerators and light bulbs and many other things have their own IP addresses. This means that the original 4 plus billion IPv4 addresses will never have been enough even to connect one device per person in the world today, much less other objects.
Do you think IPv6 should be adopted more quickly by more organizations and indivudals? Share this article if you think so!
