YIKES! The internet is due to run out of numerical IP addresses tomorrow.
Every device which connects to the internet is assigned a ‘number’ but with millions of web enabled phones now online they are fast running out.
The system – set up in the 1980s – with a maximum of 4.1billion addresses was supposed to never run out. Find out what happens next after the jump!
(DM) – The original creators of the web initially only thought it would be used for academic purposes.
But it does not mean the internet will ground to a halt tomorrow as a new system called Internet Protocol version 6, or IPv6 has been created to replace version 4.
IP addresses act as ‘phone numbers’ to ensure that surfers reach websites and e-mails find their destination.
The top-level authority that governs such addresses will distribute the last batches on Thursday.
‘It will just be “business as usual†if everyone gets their job done,’ said John Curran, Chief Executive of the American Registry for Internet Numbers, one of five regional groups that dole out such addresses.
They cover the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean.
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, the top-level administrator of the system, has called a press conference in Miami on Thursday.
One person said its last five ‘blocks’ of Internet Protocol – or IP – addresses will be distributed then.
These blocks, each with 16.8million addresses, will be distributed to the regional registries. That means the regional groups will have IP addresses to distribute further to Internet service providers, websites and others before running out.
Curran expects to deplete his allotment in six to nine months.
Engineers have known for years that the pool of these IP addresses would one day run out.
Websites and service providers have been experimenting with a new technology that allows for many more addresses – an infinite number, for all practical purposes.
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