Lonan3 Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 TIMES ARTICLE Vint Cerf, the “father of the internet” and one of the world’s leading computer scientists, said that businesses and consumers needed to act now to switch to the next generation of net addresses. Unless preparations were made now, he said, some computers might not be able to go online and the connectivity of the internet might be damaged. When Mr Cerf and others founded the internet system in 1977, he set in place "internet protocol version four" (IPv4) which provided 4.2 billion addresses. With the number of internet-enabled devices, particularly mobile phones, soaring, less than 14 per cent of those addresses remain vacant. It is estimated that IPv4 addresses, each of which is a series of 32 binary digits, will run out in 2010 and possibly as early as next year. A new system, called IPv6, has been ready for implementation for more than a decade. Under IPv6, each address has 128 bits and so provides 340 trillion, trillion, trillion different addresses - that is 340,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. It is assumed that this will meet humanity’s needs for decades to come. The two protocol systems will run in tandem and IPv4 addresses will still work as normal. But if the IPv6 is not widely adopted, then those using it may find themselves unable to connect across the whole internet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Ayres Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 TIMES ARTICLE Vint Cerf, the “father of the internet” and one of the world’s leading computer scientists, said that businesses and consumers needed to act now to switch to the next generation of net addresses. Unless preparations were made now, he said, some computers might not be able to go online and the connectivity of the internet might be damaged. When Mr Cerf and others founded the internet system in 1977, he set in place "internet protocol version four" (IPv4) which provided 4.2 billion addresses. With the number of internet-enabled devices, particularly mobile phones, soaring, less than 14 per cent of those addresses remain vacant. It is estimated that IPv4 addresses, each of which is a series of 32 binary digits, will run out in 2010 and possibly as early as next year. A new system, called IPv6, has been ready for implementation for more than a decade. Under IPv6, each address has 128 bits and so provides 340 trillion, trillion, trillion different addresses - that is 340,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. It is assumed that this will meet humanity’s needs for decades to come. The two protocol systems will run in tandem and IPv4 addresses will still work as normal. But if the IPv6 is not widely adopted, then those using it may find themselves unable to connect across the whole internet. Does anyone remember the 'millenium bug'?. No doubt this will cost us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimcalagon Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 Does anyone remember the 'millenium bug'?. No doubt this will cost us. Yep - I worked at a software house supplying software to hospitals and was on emergency standby for a couple of days over that New Year. Of course nothing went wrong and I earned over two grand for sitting on my arse watching telly. Good stuff. We need to whip up some more crazy hysteria over a non-problem - I want to buy a 50 inch HD TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ai_Droid Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 More ISP's could use NAT and provide their clients with private IP addresses, which would open a huge number of, er, numbers. You'd also stop an awful lot of scumware at the same time I imagine. They'd have to offer something like a control panel with a port forwarding service so the customer isn't too restricted I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Old Git Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 Under IPv6, each address has 128 bits and so provides 340 trillion, trillion, trillion different addresses - that is 340,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. That's going to make it hard to remember IP addresses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimcalagon Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 That's going to make it hard to remember IP addresses Luckily we've got computers to do that for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluemonday Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 The Internet Is Nearly Full! Fear not. I have another one in the shed somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Old Git Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 That's going to make it hard to remember IP addresses Luckily we've got computers to do that for us. I still find myself typing the occasional IP address though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimcalagon Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 That's going to make it hard to remember IP addresses Luckily we've got computers to do that for us. I still find myself typing the occasional IP address though And you can't remember a simple IPv6 IP address like this- 2001:0db8:85a3:08d3:1319:8a2e:0370:7334 what's up with you man? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spermann Posted September 28, 2008 Share Posted September 28, 2008 Does anyone remember the 'millenium bug'?. No doubt this will cost us. Yep - I worked at a software house supplying software to hospitals and was on emergency standby for a couple of days over that New Year. Of course nothing went wrong and I earned over two grand for sitting on my arse watching telly. Good stuff. We need to whip up some more crazy hysteria over a non-problem - I want to buy a 50 inch HD TV. you sod, i though i did well earning 800 quid for carrying a mobile phone which didnt ring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyorhythm Posted September 28, 2008 Share Posted September 28, 2008 Full is better than half full, it is in my glass anyway............ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempus Fugit Posted September 28, 2008 Share Posted September 28, 2008 get rid of half the cr4p and it would be half empty Don't they also reckon that there were enough mac addresses for more than the poplulation of the world for the next xxx years ? are they running out as well ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyconcrete Posted September 28, 2008 Share Posted September 28, 2008 IPv6 is beginning to gain popularity - it's the transition from IPv4 to IPv6 which will be the interesting part, and no doubt will produce several grand projects at many a company. There's several methods to ease the transition, none of which are that straight-forward. There's then the issue of DNS, hardware & software support, staff training etc. Based on what I've read, I would say there are two main catalysts that are helping to exhaust the IPv4 address space. The first is the growth of the Internet in the Far-East, and in particular, China. With a such a large population, as more and more people go online - more addresses will be used. The second one is the advent of Mobile Internet; more and more phones, laptops and PDAs are all going online. As ai_Droid pointed out, NAT is helping, as is CIDR, but the transition has to happen eventually. It will happen and I'm sure lots of people (consultants!) will make lots of money along the way. One of the reasons I have lots of IPv6 stuff at the minute!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveP Posted September 28, 2008 Share Posted September 28, 2008 Luckily I still have my IPv4 addresses that start 44.x.x.x Maybe I should consider selling them to the highest bidder? Mind you, it would only release an extra 16.7 million addresses. Enough for the IoM though probably! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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