Y2k11? November 15, 2010
Posted by natewadman in ipv6, names and numbers.comments closed
I know we’ve talked about this one before, but it bears mentioning again. This is the first article I’ve seen which puts the date of depletion of IPv4 addresses in 2011. With the economic issues of the last few years, companies have really put this on the back burner, but now it looks as if we could be in real trouble starting next year. What do you think should be done, if anything? Who do you think should take the lead with this issue?
So, much like the Y2K bug (remember that?), companies have a lot of incentive to put off dealing with IPv6 until they absolutely need to. And to be sure, the real-estate shortage may turn out to be less dire than it appears, if many companies have been routinely hoarding unused addresses. Companies are also stretching the IPv4 addresses they do have with technical workarounds that let one address stand in for multiple machines. (Your own home Wi-Fi network typically does this, appearing to the world as a single IP address even if you have 10 PCs, iPad, Tivos and whatever hooked up.)
