IPv6 Act Now

We are running out of IPv4 Internet addresses, but who is using them all up? The IP address space usage per capita differs greatly between nations, which points to a digital divide. Can IPv6 help address this problem?

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Within 18 months it is estimated that the number of new devices able to connect to the world wide web will plummet as we run out of “IP addresses” — the unique codes that provide access to the Internet for everything from PCs to smart phones.

“The Internet as we know it will no longer be able to grow,” Daniel Karrenberg, chief scientist at RIPE NCC, the organization that issues IP addresses in Europe, told CNN.

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IPv4 has proven to be a fantastic layer 3 protocol. It is mind boggling how many devices are on the Internet today. The Internet is a much different and more complex environment than what was around 40 years ago, back when IPv4 was first introduced. With that being said, IPv4 does have its drawbacks. One of the problems is addressing space. NAT and PAT was conceived to help out with this problem. However, they are only a band aid. Eventually, we will have to upgrade to IPv6. Another problem with IPv4 is broadcast traffic. In layer 2, switches and bridges divides a network into collision domains. However, routers and gateways can divide a network into broadcast domains. A broadcast domain is an area of a network that confines broadcasts. In an earlier post, I discussed ARP and ARP requests. Every device that shares the same network address can communicate directly with each other. So, in order to find out an IP address of another device, an ARP request is sent. At your house with only a few devices, this is not a problem. However, imagine a bigger office with 500 or more computers. That is a lot of broadcast traffic. In fact, this is why adding a device on an Ethernet degrades the network exponentially. In order to combat this problem, a network can be divided into multiple broadcast domains through subnetting. Subnet (subnetwork) in IPv4 is an area in a network that shares the same network address. Every device in a subnet has the same network address, can communicate with each other directly, and are bound in a broadcast domain.

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It looks like the internet forecasters were optimistic when they designed the current IP address architecture known as IPv4. They figured 4 billion addresses would be enough. But this was back in the eighties, when practically no one was on the World Wide Web, commercial WiFi applications were practically nonexistent, and smart phones that could surf the internet didn’t exist. Thirty years later, we are scraping the bottom of the IPv4 address barrel. Luckily, the smart guys have been working on this for awhile, with the result that we will soon be connecting to the web via IPv6.

One of my college buddies was a math major. His first job out of college was with Bellsouth, where he worked in the forecasting department. If I can remember how he described it correctly, their job was to try to predict from current usage patterns where phone service was likely to grow the fastest, so the company could plan the expansion of their infrastructure more efficiently.

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The department of telecommunications (DoT) is set to roll out an action plan to upgrade a key Internet protocol (IP) that will help India avoid running out of Web addresses in two years’ time.

The move involves shifting from IP version 4 (IPv4) to IP version 6 (IPv6). India is expected to exhaust its pool of IP addresses by August 2012 under the current system, a 25-year-old protocol that has many limitations, the biggest of which is that it allows for only some four billion addresses as opposed to several trillion under the later regime.

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Let’s start by stating the obvious: All business communications depend on IP addresses. Without an IP address, you simply can’t communicate over the network.

No IP address means no access to your email server, no access to your website, and no cell phone or VoIP access. So much for the new VoIP system installed last month.

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The internet was designed around 40 years ago and no one could predict at that time that it will grow like this and become a global phenomenon. The growth of internet in the developing countries is especially surprising everyone.

It is being feared that the current IPv4 numbering system will be exhausted by September next year. It is being argued that it will be necessary to migrate to IPv6 numbering system as soon as possible. Experts feel that this system will make it easier to manage all the IP addresses on the internet.

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According to research conducted by thinkbroadband.com, there is significant confusion amongst broadband providers not only as to whether they support IPv6 but also as to what it actually is. Surprising, when you consider that IPv6 has been available since 1998 and much written about – including here on DaniWeb for many years now. Not surprising, when you consider that only a handful of niche broadband service providers actually support it at the moment.

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The existing internet based on Internet Protocol version 4 is running out of available addresses due to massive web growth, particularly mobile internet in developing nations and is set to reach maximum capacity by September 2011.

The IPv6 Summit, attended by 130 delegates in Dublin, heard the current internet is running out of addresses to assign to new devices and has reached nearly 4.5 billion addresses.

More from SiliconRepublic…

Pervasive Software, a Texas maker of embeddable database software, says it is seeing a rise in demand for IPv6 support from its Japanese customers.

Pervasive plans to provide full IPv6 functionality in Release 11 of its PSQL software, which is due out this summer.

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