Internet to run out next year

internet-to-run-outIn life, it’s true that the best things only last for a certain time. If the PC brigade don’t get their hands on it then it either becomes outdated and rots in a museum or simply runs out. Our Internet was never supposed to be like this though! Seemingly beyond the PC brigade and changing too much to be put in a museum and considered outdated. This means only one thing – it’s going to way of the Dodo and a number of fossil fuels.

Well this is the view being put out there by the man dubbed “the godfather of the internet” and vice-president at Google, Vint Cerf. In addition to stating that the shortage of internet address space in Europe represented a “serious boundary,” he went on to add that it’s one of the “biggest set of changes in the history of the internet.”

The problem comes down to the amount of space there is in Europe for IP addresses on IPv4. This has 4 billion addresses but only has 4% left which is expected to run out next year. The solution is IPv6 which has “340 trillion trillion trillion” addresses, however, not enough companies have taken this up as of yet.