You must have heard by now that the Internet is running out of IP addresses. The current addressing scheme, IP version 4, allows for a much smaller finite number of addresses than people would like, what with all of these new fangled Internet aware gadgets and so forth popping up all over the place and wanting to get connected.

"Global momentum is growing for a new address system, known as IPv6, which promises to vastly expand the pool of unique numbers available for connecting PCs and other devices to the Net. The standard is widely seen as a necessary successor to the current IPv4 system, which some fear could run short of addresses in Asia and Europe within the next few years."

But the problem is, the USA doesn't perceive the problem is being quite as immediate as the rest of the world seems to, "thanks to unique conditions that will likely guarantee the region a steady supply of IPv4 addresses for years to come.... Since fear of an address shortage is the single biggest argument in favor of a switch, the United States could stay on the sidelines as the rest of the world wrestles with the upgrade over the coming years, networking experts said."

The IP versions created 30 years ago were 32 bits long. Under that scheme, there are 4.3 billion different number combinations. IPv6 addresses are 128 bits. The resulting list of IP addresses is two googols long, an enormous number. "It's a nearly infinite address space," said Cisco Systems Vice President Sangeeta Anand. A move to IPv6 is mandatory for a future world that is becoming increasingly wired day by day.

Full story here.

Concur. I agree that we should at least if anything begin to move towards IPv6 as soon as possible. Then, at least before it is too late we will be ready. These "network experts" are going to be fired in a few years, I can see it now -- for not preparing for the future.

I think its more a case of the USA selfishly thinking "well, who cares whether the rest of the world can connect additional devices to the internet or not? We still can."

But the internet is about sharing - that's its key axiom. Without sharing, the internet is nothing.

Why must the US be the leader in this though, I see it as a smart move, let other countries figure out ways to make it work. Then when it comes time the US will see where the rest of the world had difficulties and hopefully avoid making similar mistakes. Sounds like a solid buisness plan to me.

The issue is more that the USA is actually hogging the vast majority of the current address space.

Well thats unfortunate, but sometimes you don't get handed what you want. I'm just saying that if other countries were going to have to tackle this issue before we do then let them, the US has no obligation to fix this problem for other countries.

SNGX I completely agree

Somehow, methinks that one day we will even laugh at that kind of statement as well.

Take how much you think computers will evolve, and then multiply it by ten at least to get the real truth.

Maybe in 20 years, home computers will be just as complex as the whole internet is right now.

(I mean that partially metaphorically....)

yeh when I read that I couldn't help but think that it could be one of those statements we look back on several years down the road and laugh at.

Just like in Johnny Mnemonic, Keanu Reeves can hold something like 40 gigabytes in that memory chip in his head. Then he runs a "doubler" on himself and decides to let it "go further" which instead of doubling the memory he increases it to about 320 gigabytes.

When that movie was out people like us were thinking "whoa", because that much memory was unheard of, and it has only been maybe 5 years since that movie was out and were already at that mark.