[News] Asia runs out of IPv4 addresses

[redbeacon]

Asia's IP registry has depleted all of its allocated 16.7 million IP addresses (of the Version 4 type), USA's may deplete soon.

 

The Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) has run out of all but a handful of IPv4 addresses that it is holding in reserve for start-up network operators.

 

Countries in the Asia and Pacific region has been gobbling up the most IPv4 address space in recent years; APNIC has apparently distributed more than 32 million IPv4 addresses to network operators in this region in the last two months alone.

 

On the other side, American Registry for Internet Networks or ARIN, which hands out IPv4 and IPv6 addresses to companies operating in North America, predicts that it will run out of IPv4 addresses this fall.

 

Source:

MacWorld Middle East

 

Imagine if my fridge were to need an IP address it would probably stop working the next day, pending ipconfig /renew

[SebTurbo]

4-6 in June...

 

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/02/tech-giants-to-enable-ipv6-on-world-ipv6-day-in-june.ars

[nomad_mcv]

Asia's IP registry has depleted all of its allocated 16.7 million IP addresses (of the Version 4 type), USA's may deplete soon.

 

The Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) has run out of all but a handful of IPv4 addresses that it is holding in reserve for start-up network operators.

 

Countries in the Asia and Pacific region has been gobbling up the most IPv4 address space in recent years; APNIC has apparently distributed more than 32 million IPv4 addresses to network operators in this region in the last two months alone.

 

On the other side, American Registry for Internet Networks or ARIN, which hands out IPv4 and IPv6 addresses to companies operating in North America, predicts that it will run out of IPv4 addresses this fall.

 

Source:

MacWorld Middle East

 

Imagine if my fridge were to need an IP address it would probably stop working the next day, pending ipconfig /renew

 

haha ur fridge wun be affected la. coz unless ur fridge is connected directly to the internet with a public IP address provided by ur ISP, its more likely private IP address by ur home router mah.

[alien86]

Seem like IPV6 going to take over soon

[crazydj]

Me no understand...

[Strawberrydonut]

guess the IT world is expanding way too fast

[crazydj]

I still don't understand...

[exwhyzee]

I still don't understand...

 

ur not alone...

[redbeacon]

Hmm...how to put it to very layman terms ah....

 

Here's an analogy: An IP address is like an NRIC number (or Social Security number, or Nombor KP, contohnya).

 

All computers -- even things such as iPhones -- that plug into the Internet need to have an "identity". That identity comes in the form of an IP address - a unique group of numbers

 

http://i.imgur.com/VUh94.jpg

 

Take the current S'pore situtation now: A baby born in Singapore is given an NRIC number. This number will identify him/herself, and allows him/her to transact with other people: Perhaps to buy a car in the future, in which he/she needs to present his/her NRIC.

 

And the car dealers aforementioned will probably have to transact back and forth to buyer of that car himself/herself, because they have to find out based on the NRIC number on who purchased the car and how to get back to the person to collect installments due, or to communicate with him/her.

 

So in this analogy, the car is the Internet -- a service that you want to use. The NRIC number is the IP address of the computer/smartphone/device that needs access to the Internet. IP addresses identify who you are on the Internet. It's your internet identity -- a dog-tag if you will.

 

When you go to a website -- say Yahoo.com, the website at Yahoo has the responsibility to transfer a copy of its front webpage to your computer, so long as you have an IP address and the computer you are using sends that information to Yahoo.

 

Imagine if you don't have an IP address, nobody -- not even Yahoo -- knows who you are, and where you are located. So you get a "The page cannot be displayed" on your Internet Browser as per usual.

 

Additional facts on IP addresses:

 

You may have heard of the term "Dynamic", as in Dynamic IP address, or DHCP.

 

Fact is, your IP address can actually change (or an expert individual can change it). Taking the same analogy into account, if that same baby that was born in Singapore and was given an NRIC number as an identity. If he renounces his citizenship, his NRIC number is purged away. He goes to another country such as the US, and over there their immigration services will give him a new identity number (over there it's called the Social Security number, just as a tidbit of info.)

 

Likewise, for IP addresses, everytime you switch off and on your computer or internet-enabled device, it will be given a new IP address.

 

Who gives out these new addresses? The DHCP server. But that will be another story for another day for those who really want to dive deep into Networking technology.

 

Back to this thread topic: IP addresses have a limit. 4.3 billion IP addresses to be given out to computers. Problem is, the world is quickly consuming up all of that. Unless if the world adopts a new technology called IP version 6, the addresses are going to be used up, and no more computers can be allowed onto the Internet.

 

** Because this is an oversimplified analogy, IPv4 is demonstrated here. I've excluded IPv6.

Edited March 3, 2012 by redbeacon

[crazydj]

Hmm...how to put it to very layman terms ah....

 

Here's an analogy: An IP address is like an NRIC number (or Social Security number, or Nombor KP, contohnya).

 

All computers -- even things such as iPhones -- that plug into the Internet need to have an "identity". That identity comes in the form of an IP address - a unique group of numbers

 

http://i.imgur.com/VUh94.jpg

 

Take the current S'pore situtation now: A baby born in Singapore is given an NRIC number. This number will identify him/herself, and allows him/her to transact with other people: Perhaps to buy a car in the future, in which he/she needs to present his/her NRIC.

 

And the car dealers aforementioned will probably have to transact back and forth to buyer of that car himself/herself, because they have to find out based on the NRIC number on who purchased the car and how to get back to the person to collect installments due, or to communicate with him/her.

 

So in this analogy, the car is the Internet -- a service that you want to use. The NRIC number is the IP address of the computer/smartphone/device that needs access to the Internet. IP addresses identify who you are on the Internet. It's your internet identity -- a dog-tag if you will.

 

When you go to a website -- say Yahoo.com, the website at Yahoo has the responsibility to transfer a copy of its front webpage to your computer, so long as you have an IP address and the computer you are using sends that information to Yahoo.

 

Imagine if you don't have an IP address, nobody -- not even Yahoo -- knows who you are, and where you are located. So you get a "The page cannot be displayed" on your Internet Browser as per usual.

 

Additional facts on IP addresses:

 

You may have heard of the term "Dynamic", as in Dynamic IP address, or DHCP.

 

Fact is, your IP address can actually change (or an expert individual can change it). Taking the same analogy into account, if that same baby that was born in Singapore and was given an NRIC number as an identity. If he renounces his citizenship, his NRIC number is purged away. He goes to another country such as the US, and over there their immigration services will give him a new identity number (over there it's called the Social Security number, just as a tidbit of info.)

 

Likewise, for IP addresses, everytime you switch off and on your computer or internet-enabled device, it will be given a new IP address.

 

Who gives out these new addresses? The DHCP server. But that will be another story for another day for those who really want to dive deep into Networking technology.

 

Back to this thread topic: IP addresses have a limit. 4.3 billion IP addresses to be given out to computers. Problem is, the world is quickly consuming up all of that. Unless if the world adopts a new technology called IP version 6, the addresses are going to be used up, and no more computers can be allowed onto the Internet.

 

** Because this is an oversimplified analogy, IPv4 is demonstrated here. I've excluded IPv6.

 

I understand IPv4. Its the IPv6 technology and how it works is the one i don't quite understand. How is it different? How is it better? etc.

 

Nice explanation btw for those who still dont get IPv4.