Definition

"IPv4 address exhaustion is the depletion of the pool of unallocated Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) addresses." ~Wikipedia

• "A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A route indicates how we get there." ~Jon Postel
  
  
  
  
• "Lack of proper prior planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine." ~Old English Proverb?
  
  
  
  

Factors

• more users & computers (alleviated somewhat via address sharing, i.e., NAT)
• always-on connections
• mobile devices
• inefficiency of allocating blocks

IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4) to IPv6

• 1981: IPv4 adopted: ~4.3 billion (2³²) addresses
  
  
• Why IPv6? Vint Cerf keeps blaming himself
  
  
  
  
• 1998: IPv6 published: 2¹²⁸ (~3.4×10³⁸) addresses "By comparison, this amounts to approximately 5×10²⁸ addresses for each of the 6.8 billion people alive in 2010. While these numbers are impressive, it was not the intent of the designers of the IPv6 address space to assure geographical saturation with usable addresses. Rather, the longer addresses simplify allocation of addresses, enable efficient route aggregation, and implementation of special addressing features." "We could assign an IPv6 address to EVERY ATOM ON THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH, and still have enough addresses left to do another 100+ earths." ~Wikipedia
  
  
  
  
• 2011: IPv4 addresses running out; IPv6 still not adopted...
  
  
• Mobile device boom sparks U.S. Net address shortage
  
  
• IPv6 is still broken, or missing, in most vendors' consumer network gear (home routers and DSL/cable modems)
  
  
• IPv4 and The End of the World Scott Dewing; Jefferson Monthly, Mar 2011
  
  
• 10 Things to Know About the Move to IPv6
  
  
• Six weeks after World IPv6 Day, what have we learned?
  
  
  
  

Other IP & Domain (DNS) Address-Related Issues

• UK MPs Questioning Digital Economy Act: IP Address Does Not Identify Individual
  
  
• U.S. Government Shuts Down 84,000 Websites, ‘By Mistake’
  
  
• Typo-squatting domains can harvest corporate emails
  
  
• Clicking Candidate.com, Landing at Opponent.com (cybersquatting)
  
  
• Radical change coming to Net addresses (FAQ) ('end of .com'); generic top-level domains (gTLDs)
  
  
• Chinese DNS Tampering A Big Threat To Internet Security (outside China)
  
  
  
  

For more info: Addresses

[updated: 04-Oct-2011] [.pdf]