The end of the global IPv4 address pool

Yes, the end is nigh, rumor has it that 2nd of Feb 2011 will be the official announcement day for the end of the global IPv4 pool. Technical types will no doubt understand the implications of this.

What irritates me though, is the media who choose to display their complete ignorance in order to drum up business (I can only assume).

Here are a few pointers for any media types out there:

"IT'S the end of the web as we know it.
Since its inception, the internet..."

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/technology/the-internet-has-run-out-of-ip-addresses-and-what-happens-after-that-is-anyones-guess/story-e6frfro0-1225995086627#ixzz1CCKnzW6J

The 'web' is not the same thing as 'the Internet', you cannot use these terms interchangeably.

 
"Web developers have compensated for it by creating IPv6"

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/technology/the-internet-has-run-out-of-ip-addresses-and-what-happens-after-that-is-anyones-guess/story-e6frfro0-1225995086627#ixzz1CCKVmEgk

Web developers did not invent IPv6, the IETF did many years ago.


"At best, their user experience will be clunky and slow."

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/technology/the-internet-has-run-out-of-ip-addresses-and-what-happens-after-that-is-anyones-guess/story-e6frfro0-1225995086627#ixzz1CCL2jad9

IPv6 will not break things or make your Internet experience worse. Buggy software will but that's harder to blame in a news story.

"The current generation of iPhones, for example, won't display anything with an IPv6 address correctly."

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/technology/the-internet-has-run-out-of-ip-addresses-and-what-happens-after-that-is-anyones-guess/story-e6frfro0-1225995086627#ixzz1CCLTJSHd

Apple iPhones can do IPv6 just fine (those that run iOS 4.X) and will have no issues accessing the IPv6 Internet when it becomes more available. The issue is carrier support for IPv6 which is still absent in most markets.


As a matter of fact, most recent devices will support IPv6, the issue has been the infrastructure. Sure there's no content  and what there is has restrictive terms (e.g. Google over IPv6) that see only a few make use of it. Yet the biggest issue is the infrastructure upon which the Internet exists. There's no great incentive to move over to a new protocol considering the costs that could be incurred.

That being said, as part of a companies normal upgrade cycle, IPv6 will be included on newer kit purchased. Some companies will choose to take the initiative and enable IPv6, perhaps gradually; other companies will choose to pretend it is a security risk and disable it everywhere lest someone hacks them via IPv6.

My only hope is the huge media beat up about the exhaustion of IPv4 will get more average businesses aware of IPv6 so that will start asking their ISPs about it and thus create some level of demand!

Will you?