Internet 97% full

[VectraMan]

Yes it's IT's version of global warming back in the headlines. And this time they really mean it. Really.

97% of INTERNET NOW FULL UP, warn IPv4 shepherd boys ? The Register

Less than three per cent of IPv4 address space is still to be allocated, after two huge chunks were given to American and European ISPs.

For years, warnings have been issued that the internet in its current incarnation is running out of space for new devices. Now that reality is imminent.

In mid-November, Vint Cerf, a key figure in the development of ARPANET, the forerunner to the internet, said: "There's no question we're going to be out of address space by springtime of 2011."

Even that estimate could now appear optimistic.

Trefor Davies, CTO of business ISP Timico said: "I will need to revise my exhaustion date but February is either looking good or too late."

Doomed!

[thunderlizard]

Ace! it's like corporate life in the early 2000's. Should we send an email to the world, asking them to delete stuff they don't need any more?

[doodab]

Surely this is a good thing. I mean, at least the massive pile of useless crap will stop expanding.

[TykeMerc]

Isn't this why IP V6 has been developed? It's been known for years that 4 Octet IP addresses will run out.

Of course transition will be "interesting"...

[CheeseSlice]

Surely a bit of housekeeping is in order.

Things may have changed but I used to find that universities and the public sector often had enormous quantities of public IPs that far exceed their needs. I think they basically grabbed a bundle in the 90s thinking each PC would need a public IP (This is certainly how it worked initially at my university). Now they don't require so many since the advent of NAT and private IP network ranges in the workplace.

[Mich the Tester]

Surely a bit of housekeeping is in order.

Things may have changed but I used to find that universities and the public sector often had enormous quantities of public IPs that far exceed their needs. I think they basically grabbed a bundle in the 90s thinking each PC would need a public IP (This is certainly how it worked initially at my university). Now they don't require so many since the advent of NAT and private IP network ranges in the workplace.

Actually I think it's pubic IPs that are responsible for 99.93% of the internet.

[TykeMerc]

Actually I think it's pubic IPs that are responsible for 99.93% of the internet.

Nah, that's an urban myth... There are quite a few glandular instances in there too.

[CheeseSlice]

Actually I think it's pubic IPs that are responsible for 99.93% of the internet.

Thats what I mean.
These organisations that have way too many allocated public IPs should give some back if they're not using them so that new businesses and consumer broadband connections can use them.

[HairyArsedBloke]

Ace! it's like corporate life in the early 2000's. Should we send an email to the world, asking them to delete stuff they don't need any more?

Ask AtW. He has a massive databases of where all the rubbish is.

[doodab]

Thats what I mean.
These organisations that have way too many allocated public IPs should give some back if they're not using them so that new businesses and consumer broadband connections can use them.

You can't just take the odd spare addresses and reallocate them willy nilly because you need to be able to aggregate the blocks together to some extent to make the routing work. Otherwise the routing tables grow extremely large and unwieldy.