IANA has run out of IPv4 addresses

David Heath
Thursday, 03 February 2011 12:43

Business IT - Networking

There's no need to panic (yet!) but the last blocks of IPv4 addresses have now been allocated to the Regional Internet Registries.  IANA has none left.

According to a statement by APNIC (the Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre and one of 5 Regional Internet Registries), two IPv4 address blocks were requested and allocated to them on February 1st.

This triggered the automatic allocation of the five remaining address blocks under IANA (the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) agreement which stated that when just five /8 address ranges remained in the pool, they would automatically be allocated to the 5 RIRs.

This doesn't mean we should panic, just yet.

The effect of this final step is that the allocation of sub-addresses within each /8 address range (some 16 million-odd addresses) is in the hands of the regions for allocation according to their own policies.

According to APNIC's statement, "APNIC expects normal allocations to continue for a further three to six months. After this time, APNIC will continue to make small allocations from the last /8 block, guided by section 9.10 in 'Policies for IPv4 address space management in the Asia Pacific region'. This policy ensures that IPv4 address space is available for IPv6 transition."

"APNIC reiterates that IPv6 is the only means available for the sustained ongoing growth of the Internet, and urges all Members of the Internet industry to move quickly towards its deployment."

IPv6 is our only salvation.  Read on.