RIPE: IPv6 is more than urgent

The Internet, that by now indispensable portion of technology that has entered the lives of many, bases its operation on the IPv4 protocol and this is, today, its big problem . The address space is running out, to the point that there have already been cases of speculation. On the strength of this and in perfect agreement with what has already been established by ARIN, also RIPE, the non-profit organization that supervises and contributes to the development of the network from a technical point of view, has fixed point on the matter.

“Growth and innovation on the Internet depend on the continued availability of IP address space. The set of IPv4 spaces that are still free is at risk of exhaustion within a period between two ei four years. IPv6 provides all the necessary space to future growth. We must therefore facilitate the widest possible adoption of IPv6 addressing spaces ″, opens the resolution of RIPE with a peremptory tone.

Ars Technica tries to play down with a singular quote, but agrees on the most relevant fact: it has remained very little margin for further ado. Even if you want to take advantage of the so-called Class E, so far left as space for future uses, at most you could get an extension of one year on IPv4, without considering that this portion, usable only with appropriate software changes, for now would not be recognized from most equipment already connected to the network. Working on it to make them recognize it, Ars points out, would mean “removing a bunch of lines of code that prevent it”, but it would still constitute a demanding burden both for the professionals and for all the others, a solution therefore with uncertain and exposed results to inexorable, rapid obsolescence.

While there are, therefore, many and different reasons not to waste any more time and although not all countries are ready to do so yet, the urgency of the transition to IPv6 it’s real as this table, updated to 2007, illustrates, where IPv4 gaps remained woefully few.

Marco Valerio Principality