These IP addresses, as explained by the Wall Street Journal, "are numerical labels that direct online traffic to the right location, similar to the way a letter makes its way through the postal system. Such routing is generally invisible to users -- when they type in www.facebook.com, for instance, they are actually connected to a computer located at the numerical address 66.220.149.32. It is those numbers that are in dwindling supply."
When the addressing system for the internet was developed in the 1970s,
IPv4 was introduced that allowed for about 4.3 billion possible
addresses, which was deemed to be more than adequate. However with the
number of devices connecting to the internet skyrocketing over the
years, something that was difficult to foresee, the available addresses
have been depleted to almost none.
For example, the number of available addresses has dropped from more
than one billion in June 2006 to just 117 million in December 2010,
according to the American Registry for Internet Numbers, reported the
Wall Street Journal. With the adoption of IPv6 addresses, there is an
almost unlimited supply of addresses.
The addresses allocated this week were the final allocation made by IANA
under the current framework and will trigger the final distribution of
five /8 blocks, one to each RIR under the agreed "Global policy for the
allocation of the remaining IPv4 address space".
This policy sees one of each the five remaining blocks allocated by the
IANA to each of the Regional Internet Registries. After these final
allocations, APNIC noted in an announcement that each RIR will continue
to make allocations according to their own established policies.
APNIC expects normal allocations to continue for a further three to six
months. After this time, APNIC will continue to make small allocations
from the last /8 block, guided by section 9.10 in "Policies for IPv4
address space management in the Asia Pacific region". This policy
ensures that IPv4 address space is available for IPv6 transition.
It is expected that these allocations will continue for at least another five years.
For future internet use and the growth of the internet, it is imperative
that all members of the internet industry to move quickly towards the
deployment of IPv6 addresses.
For more information, see:
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704254304576116401267588510.html
www.apnic.net/publications/news/2011/delegation
icann.org/en/general/allocation-remaining-ipv4-space.htm