Shift to IPv6 to accelerate as global IPv4 exhaustion nears
Four out of five Regional Internet Registries have reached their final pool of IPv4 addresses
APNIC today repeated its call for organizations to begin progressing their plans to move to IPv6 – the next generation of Internet addressing – after North America’s Regional Internet Registry (RIR), ARIN, reported it had reached its final pool of available IPv4 addresses.
ARIN’s announcement today, coupled with the Latin American registry, LACNIC, reaching its final pool of IPv4 addresses in March, means that four of the five RIRs globally have now reached their final ‘/8’ block of addresses. APNIC was the first to reach its final /8 in April 2011 and was closely followed by the RIPE NCC, the RIR for Europe, in September 2012.
Paul Wilson, Director General of APNIC, said the pending exhaustion of available IPv4 addresses comes at a time when demand for Internet addresses is only set to accelerate.
“The Internet has become a vital part of our lives and is continuing to expand across the Asia Pacific. Not only do we have millions of people coming online for the first time in developing economies around the region, but in developed economies we are seeing an increasing variety of devices connecting to the Internet – whether it be phones, cars, household appliances or industrial machinery,” he said.
“Industry predictions on the growth of devices connecting to the Internet vary dramatically – anywhere from 26 billion to 200 billion devices will be connected by 2020. With roughly only 3.7 billion unique IPv4 addresses available for use on the Internet, it’s clear that organizations worldwide need to continue their shift to the next
generation of IP addressing, IPv6, if they are to avoid future constraints on Internet access and negatively impacting their operations.
“The need to move to IPv6 has been known for many years but many organizations have opted to defer the investment until it is really necessary. IPv4 address space exhaustion means that time is fast approaching.”
IPv6 usage, as measured by Google, is accelerating. Currently 3.4% of Internet traffic is carried by IPv6, up from 2.5% in January 2014 and 1% in January 2013. By the end of 2014, IPv6 traffic is predicted to hit 10% as IPv6 investments continue from large online businesses such as Facebook, which recently announced it plans to have 100% of its network infrastructure using IPv6 by 2017.
“Forward looking organizations that rely on the Internet should no longer be waiting for the shift to IPv6 to happen – it is happening now. Rather than investing in more technology to help extend the life of IPv4, organizations in the Asia Pacific must turn their investments towards the transition to IPv6 in earnest. The good news is that costs can be minimized by planning ahead, for instance by ensuring IPv6 capabilities are gained within the normal hardware and software upgrade cycles.” Mr Wilson said.
“There is no doubt IPv6 will drive Internet growth into the next decades, and centuries. If you depend on the Internet, then you will depend on IPv6 as a critical part of your business. Now is the time to be asking those who provide you with Internet services and expertise – whether they are ISPs, vendors, data centres, developers, staff, or consultants – how they will support IPv6 services for you in the future. If they have no answer, it may be time to find another.”
For more information on IPv4 and IPv6, visit:
For a simple guide to Internet addressing, visit:
http://www.apnic.net/ip-bookle
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APNIC Secretariat [email protected]
Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) Tel: +61 7 3858 3100
PO Box 3646 South Brisbane, QLD 4101 Australia Fax: +61 7 3858 3199
6 Cordelia Street, South Brisbane, QLD http://www.apnic.net
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