Internet Running Out Of Web Addresses
There are just 3.4 million addresses left in North America, compared to 4.3 billion when the web as created.
Now businesses have to make the expensive move towards a new specification — IPv6, rather than the old IPv4 — which will never run out.
An IP address is a short series of numbers with three dots between it, like 194.66.82.11. They’re used by computers and servers to identify themselves to each other, allowing for connections to be made and websites and other information to be sent.
But those four sets of numbers limit the amount of different addresses that can be used. The maximum 4.3 billion possibilities is a result of the relatively small amount of different combinations.
The new specification has space for 340 undecillion addresses, or 340 followed by 36 zeroes. That’s enough to give every atom on Earth its own IP address.
Copyright 2015 Liberaland
One response to Internet Running Out Of Web Addresses
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bpollen May 14th, 2015 at 15:49
Just roll it out already… They’ve been talking about having to do it for years… the capability is in new hardware, many ISPs already are ready for it, they just need to actually DO it.