This is an archive page of an article written by the RIPE NCC in 2003.

IPv4 - Fast Facts

To be able to communicate with another networked device, you need to know how to reach it. A unique IP address identifies each device on the Internet. As more people connect to the Internet, these identifying numbers are running out.

In the early days of the Internet, nobody could have predicted the rate at which it would eventually grow. The current numbering system gives, in theory, up to 4.4 billion unique addresses.

A new system of IP addressing – IPv6 will give us 10 to the power of 38 addresses - a number made up of one followed by 38 zeros.

Misconceptions

• We will run out of addresses any day now.
• The poorer nations will be hardest hit, as the cash rich ones retain their positions.
• When we switch to the new way of doing things, everything will shut down for a few days.

Quick Information

• The current way of allocating addresses was set up in the early 80s – in the early days allocation was far less controlled and regulated.
• The current estimate is that there are about 100 million hosts and more than 350 million users actively on the Internet.
• Putting an exact date on when we might potentially run out is difficult – estimates vary – this has been complicated by various measures taken to ‘buy time’ or alleviate the situation short term. The lack of regulation in early days has also made precise prediction hard. Useable data based on trends can only look at more recent figures.
• In the four and a half years between January 1999 and June 2003, of the 221 blocks of addresses 90 are still held as unallocated.
• Regional bodies handle IP address allocation. These addresses come from a single global pool. Each region receives equal treatment. There is no system whereby that pool is exclusively divided among, or pre-allocated to, different countries or regions.