IP address depletion looms, ARIN warns

IP address depletion looms, ARIN warns
ARIN announced in May it would actively encourage migration to IPv6 reports Network World. This follows a Board of Trustees resolution to this effect. The announcement was “a bit of a shock wave for those who have not been thinking about IPv6 or preparing for it,” says the chief scientist at Apparent Networks while Jeff Doyle, subject matter expert for IPv6 transition for the North American IPv6 Task Force and an IPv6 Forum fellow says it shows “IPv6 is at the tipping point.” Doyle also says “ARIN and APNIC and the other regional Internet registries are very quickly tightening their policies because the depletion data for IPv4 is becoming very apparent. The business case is going to be, do you want to continue expanding your business? The only way to do that is with IPv6.”
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/060707-arin-registry-backs-ipv6.htmlAnd see:
ARIN Provides Latest Word on Need to Move to IPv6: Will Anyone Heed the Warning? (Does anyone care?)
Dan York writing in Circle ID reports on the NetworkWorld article on ARIN’s announcement it would actively encourage migration to IPv6. York notes that “until now, ARIN and the other RIRs have generally been fairly neutral in the IPv4 versus IPv6 debate and have not shown a preference in allocation, but this announcement from ARIN shows the first signs of change.” York quotes Jeff Doyle (see above) who “believes that IANA will stop IPv4 allocations in late 2008 or early 2009.” York says this is not far away, and the real question to him is “will anyone care”. He concludes were he a betting man, his money would be on the “crisis” scenario.
http://www.circleid.com/posts/arin_deploying_ipv6_warning_move/ARIN have published a news release regarding the announcement:
ARIN Board Advises Internet Community on Migration to IPv6
On 7 May 2007, the ARIN Board of Trustees passed a resolution advising the Internet technical community that migration to a new version of the Internet Protocol, IPv6, will be necessary to allow continued growth of the Internet.
Internet Protocol defines how computers communicate over a network. IP version 4 (IPv4), the currently prevalent version, contains just over four billion unique IP addresses, which is not enough to last indefinitely. IPv6 is a replacement for IPv4, offering far more IP addresses and enhanced security features. To date, ARIN has performed technical coordination of both versions and has not advocated one over the other.With only 19% of IPv4 address space remaining, however, ARIN is now compelled to advise the Internet community that migration to IPv6 is necessary for any applications that require ongoing availability of contiguous IP number resources.”We must prepare for IPv4’s depletion, and ARIN’s resolution to encourage that migration to IPv6 may be the impetus for more organizations to start the planning process,” said John Curran, Chairman of ARIN’s Board of Trustees.The Board resolution also directs ARIN staff to heighten its efforts in assuring the veracity of IPv4 resource requests and asks that ARIN’s elected policy body, the Advisory Council, consider working with the community on policy changes to encourage migration to IPv6.To implement this resolution, ARIN will review its internal resource request procedures, send progress announcements to the community, produce new educational documentation, and focus on IPv6 in many of its general outreach activities, such as speaking engagements, trade shows, and technical community meetings.
http://arin.net/media/releases/070521-v6-resolution.pdfThe ARIN Board resolution is available here – http://arin.net/announcements/20070521.html