North America has run out of IP addresses

TORONTO – The Internet has become too big in North America, according to the American Registry for Internet Numbers. The company, which is responsible for assigning Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to computers, announced this week it has run out of numbers.

According to the ARIN, it was forced to turn down an application for a new batch of IP addresses because it did not have enough left under the IPv4 protocol to fulfil the entire request.

An IP address is the unique string of numbers, separated by periods, that identifies each computer using the Internet. Every computer, smartphone, video game console and “smart” device connected to the web must be assigned an IP address.

Currently, the ARIN uses “IPv4” (IP version 4); however, there was a maximum of 4.3 billion possible addresses under this format.

ARIN has previously warned that it was running out of IP addresses. However, the organization said this week it still has limited amounts of IPv4 addresses in “small blocks.”

But there is a solution – IP version 6, or IPv6, which can accommodate some 340 trillion-trillion-trillion combinations, by some estimates. IPv6 address has eight four-digit numbers, where the numbers 10-15 are represented by the letters a-f – for example, “21DA:D3:0:2F3B:2AA:FF:FE28:9C5A.”

Some companies, including Google, have already switched to IPv6; however, the ARIN is calling on more businesses that require bulk IP addresses to switch over to the new format.