Y2K all over again? Companies need to take heed as we run out of IP addresses
CNN has an interesting story today (Are you ready for the big internet crunch? ) on something that sounds like it will be a big deal to companies worldwide.
As the story says: “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.”
This caught my eye today and I’m sure we’ll all hear more and more about it over the next 18 months. Business reporters might want to start with tech-savvy companies to see what companies are starting to do to address the IP issue. Eventually all companies that communicate with people online will need to do something about this. This seems like a story that will take off, but it would be good for business journalists to get out ahead of it to report the news and not the hype.
Currently the internet is built around the Internet Protocol Addressing Scheme version 4 (IPv4), which has around four billion addresses, IP addresses — and they’re fast running out. The techies are calling this IPv4 address exhaustion.
There are solutions to this problem including, if I understand it right, moving to a replacement or successor system, IPv6, which has trillions more addresses available and ready to go. And IPv4 and IPv6 are able to work together once the kinks are worked out.
The issue is not just a problem for businesses that create devices that need to connect to the Web – phones, cars, game consoles, watches. But content providers will also need to make sure their services are IPv6-ready.
It all sounds familiar, doesn’t it? The Y2K problem, or millennium bug, was all about whether computers’ clocks would be able to handled rolling over from 1999 to 2000. They did and pretty seamlessly.
The IP address issue is similar in that when IPv4 was created, 4,294,967,296 unique IP addresses seemed like enough to keep us going for some time.
Already, you can find ads for services that will give your company “Free IPv6 Certification.” Cable customers are starting to hear about things called “dual stacks” which give (primarily business) customers native IPv6 and IPv4 addresses. Businesses and consumers will be bombarded with information about the vanishing Internet addresses. Journalists can help guide their way.
A couple more interesting links:
