UPD No More IPv4 Internet Addresses in Europe and UK as RIPE Runs Dry

The RIPE Network Coordination Centre (RIPE NCC), which manages the regional distribution of internet addresses for the UK, Europe, Middle East and parts of Central Asia (required by all devices that connect to the internet), has officially handed out the final blocks of IPv4 address space from its available pool.

The Regional Internet Registry added that it was now “imperative that all stakeholders deploy IPv6 on their networks” so as to ensure “continuity” of their existing services and “future growth of the Internet“.

At present the Internet Protocol v4 standard, which is part of a seamless technology that helps to connect your computer with the online world, is the dominant protocol for practically all internet-capable hardware and software. But in the future ISPs will need to connect customers to IPv6 addresses, which will only work if the hardware, software and networks are in place to support it. Sadly many still have alot of work to do.

RIPE NCC Statement

This means that we are now distributing IPv4 address space to Local Internet Registries (LIRs) from the last /8 according to section 5.6 of “IPv4 Address Allocation and Assignment Policies for the RIPE NCC Service Region”.

This section states that an LIR may receive one /22 allocation (1,024 IPv4 addresses), even if they can justify a larger allocation. This /22 allocation will only be made to LIRs if they have already received an IPv6 allocation from an upstream LIR or the RIPE NCC. No new IPv4 Provider Independent (PI) space will be assigned.

Adrian Kennard, Director of ISP Andrews & Arnold (AAISP), added:

“Obviously, having provided IPv6 for over 10 years, AAISP have been ready for this news. Whilst we have plans for conservation of remaining IPv4 addresses, we do plan to continue providing at least a static IPv4 external address to all new customers for some years to come, avoiding any ‘Carrier Grade NAT’ being needed within our network. New customers already receive an IPv6 assignment and pre-configured IPv6 router as standard.”

Anybody looking for more information about the situation, including what individual UK ISPs are doing about it, should check out our related article – UK ISPs Respond to Readiness Fears on World IPv6 Launch Day .

UPDATE 4:53pm

Added a comment from the boss of AAISP.