Internet Runs Out of Addresses, No Need to Panic

You may not have noticed it, but the Internet has ran out of addresses. It has been reported that the number of available IP addresses become smaller and smaller, which was already anticipated by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the organization responsible for assigning these addresses.

An IP address is a numerical label assigned to each device that uses the Internet for communications, which is typically separated by decimals (for example, 180.190.8.235). There were about 4.3 billion addresses, which ran out more rapidly when mobile devices needed Internet connections as well.

Now that the old system called IPv4 has been depleted, a new system of IP address has been implemented. The IPv6 system has more numbers and characters (for example, 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334), so much so that it can provide up to 340 trillion, trillion, trillion unique IP addresses. Although equipment that use IPv6 has been in use since 1999, the two systems are not automatically compatible with each other, which is why service providers and network operators are advised to upgrade their systems to ensure smooth transition.

Source: PC Mag