Soooo… if you are in North America and have NOT started planning for a migration of your network to IPv6, now would be a REALLY good time to start doing so! The news comes today from the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) that they have now started allocating IPv4 addresses from their last contiguous block of IPv4 addresses.
Now, this doesn’t mean that ARIN is out of IPv4 addresses… but it’s getting really close! Per ARIN’s IPv4 Countdown Plan page, they only have 1.42 /8s left. Basically, they have 104.x.x.x to allocate out to Internet service providers (ISPs) and then a number of other smaller ranges and then…
Boom. That’s it!
There will be no more *new* IPv4 addresses available in the US, Canada and many Caribbean and North Atlantic islands.
Existing IPv4 addresses will continue to work just fine, of course, but any new networks or devices seeking to be connected to the public Internet are going to have to re-use existing IPv4 addresses via ugly NAT arrangements – or go IPv6. So… mobile operators looking to expand and add on more devices. All the companies looking to bring a zillion more appliances and devices onto the Internet via the “Internet of Things”. Any expansions into new geographic areas.
We’ve been saying for years that we’d be running out IPv4 addresses… but now it’s actually happening in North America! (and also in the European and Asia Pacific regions)
It’s time to get going with IPv6! What are you waiting for? And how can we help you?