On 1 February, IANA, the global IP address coordinator, allocated two blocks of IPv4 addresses to APNIC, Asia’s regional internet registry (RIR). At the same time, it was agreed that the five remaining IPv4 address blocks would be divided amongst the RIRs. That means that IANA’s stock of IPv4 addresses is now exhausted.
The RIRs still hold buffers, which will be enough to meet demand for a further few months – possibly even a year or two. Nevertheless, the complete exhaustion of IPv4 address stocks is now clearly in sight. If nothing were done, this would have serious implications for the continued growth of the internet. Fortunately, however, we already have the solution: IPv6, the successor to IPv4. This latest version of the Internet Protocol allows for the creation of far more addresses than were possible with IPv4, ensuring that the internet’s development won’t be halted in its tracks by the non-availability of addresses.
SIDN is wholeheartedly behind the switchover to the new protocol. Our systems and network infrastructure have been IPv6-compatible for some time, and an increasing number of our services are already accessible using version 6. We intend to ensure full IPv6-based service availability in good time and we are calling on others to do likewise.