August 26, 2017

What IPv4 Exhaustion Means for You as a Business

IPv4 exhaustion was predicted several years ago. Now that there are no more IPv4 addresses to allot, the market is scrambling to find a way out of this crisis.

Several companies started purchasing address blocks from other companies and individuals, even before the exhaustion really settled in. That is to say, you can still buy IPv4 addresses on the private market.

Of course, this doesn’t mean there’s going to be an endless supply. This is why IPv6 was designed. The deployment issues are another matter that we don’t plan to debate today.

What’s happening, really?

The current situation is affecting each and everyone on the internet; the hosting companies, businesses and the web surfers.

The address allocation hierarchy was such that the International Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) assigned bulk of IPv4 addresses to regional registries. IANA first ran out of new addresses to allot, and subsequently each of the regional registries was exhausted.

Typically, if a business located in the United States wanted to receive IPv4 space, they would apply at ARIN, the registry for USA and Canada. However, the regional registry has since run out of new addresses.

Does this mean you can no longer buy IPv4 space? As we mentioned earlier, the IPv4 market is still there, playing largely by the supply/demand rule.

How does it affect you? 

While it’s true that new addresses are no longer available, there are both short term and long term solutions.

First, let’s discuss the long-term solution. The shortage of IPv4 addresses has led to the adoption of IPv6 addresses, which are virtually endless! Yes, you can easily purchase huge blocks.

The IPv6 traffic is low currently, but it will continue to grow as more and more businesses switch over. So, why aren’t businesses jumping for the opportunity to integrate new and perhaps more advanced protocol?

Because the new protocol is not backwards compatible. This means that IPv4 addresses are still required as the transfers will take years.

Now for the short-term solution: there are addresses allocated to users which are not being used. These users or owners can choose to lease out or sell IPv4 addresses for a justified sum of money.

You’d think it will create a black market because of the high demand. The black market is there, but so are reliable IPv4 brokers like IPv4Mall. We make it easier to purchase and sell addresses legally.

And, this isn’t as short-term a solution as you may think. These addresses will support you until you’re ready to make the move to IPv6. As industry experts, we can tell you that it may take years, even if you start today.

So, make sure you have enough addresses to rely on. Opt for our reliable IPv4 services to buy, sell or lease addresses.