BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA: The Number Resource Organization (NRO), the official representative of the five Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) that oversee the allocation of all Internet number resources, recently announced that less than 10 percent of available IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4) addresses remain unallocated.

IPv6 growth rises 300pc in two years

IP addresses are the unique numbers that help identify devices and allow them to communicate over a network, or on the Internet. IPv4 is the current standard for IP addresses.

Geoff Huston, chief scientist, Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) and global expert on IP address usage, said: “We've reached a critical low water mark for IP addresses. Out of the original 4.5 billion addresses, less than 400 million remain. This is simply not enough to fuel further Internet growth. Consider how many new Internet compatible mobile phones were connected during 2009 in the Asia Pacific alone.”

APNIC will keep allocating IPv4 addresses to the industry; however, it anticipates the central IANA pool will run out during late 2011. Internet service providers (ISP) in the Asia Pacific region will be able to obtain IPv4 IP addresses for some months thereafter until the APNIC pool is also exhausted.

“This industry has been talking about transitioning to a new version of the Internet protocol with a larger address space for many years. It's now well and truly time to change from talk to action, and roll out the IPv6 Internet,” said Huston.

Paul Wilson, director general, APNIC, warns: “Reaching this 10 percent threshold should serve as an indisputable indicator to Asia Pacific business leaders from all sectors. Without planning and risk assessment, IPv4 exhaustion poses a tangible threat to the long-term growth and innovation of virtually all organizations in the region.

“It is critical that industry leaders assess the risk this exhaustion will have on their businesses so they can adapt to the changes it will present, and take advantage of the IPv6 growth potential. Using IPv6 will enable the Internet to continue to grow to millions of times its current size in terms of devices connected,” said Wilson. 

He further explained that if organizations wish to remain competitive and retain market share, key decisions makers such as CEOs and CIOs must analyse how their operations, in particular their ongoing service delivery, will be affected in the short, medium, and long term. This is not an issue that only affects the ICT sector.

While IPv4 exhaustion is of global concern, the Asia Pacific region is uniquely affected because of the rapid pace of growth in the region. Of the 190.1 million IPv4 addresses allocated during 2009, just under half (45.87 percent) were allocated in the Asia Pacific, with China consuming more IPv4 addresses than any other economy. There is also a huge untapped potential for growth in the local Internet market, with some regions in Asia estimated to have broadband penetration rates as low as 15 percent.

Local technical organizations in India are mobilizing to assist the business community with the important changes IPv6 adoption entails.

Rajesh Chharia, President, Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI), said: "Building awareness of IPv4 exhaustion is extremely important for our organisation in the Indian community through local training initiatives. It is essential that enterprise users understand this issue and support their ICT suppliers investing the necessary upgrades to deploy IPv6 in their networks.'

APNIC calls on business leaders to act now by ensuring that access to online content continues via IPv4 and IPv6 (dual stacking), that suppliers, partners, equipment vendors, and hosting companies support IPv6; and that staff are adequately trained on IPv6.