The American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) announced earlier this week that the amount of the remaining IPv4 addresses is very limited. For the first time, ARIN was forced to turn down a request for a block of IP addresses. The CIO Richard Jimmerson said that the remaining IPv4 addreses within weeks.

In order to cope with the issue, ARIN is already offering IPv6 addresses that will replace the current IPv4 4-digit format. ARIN encourages organizations to evaluate IPv6 address space for their ongoing public Internet network activities.

IPv4 is based on a 32-bit system and provides approximately 4.3 billion possible Internet addresses. The new standard Internet addressing system, IPv6, employs a 128-bit identifier, allowing for 3.4?1038 IP addresses; that may also be expressed as 340 trillion trillion trillion (340 undecillion) IP addresses, which is more than a trillion IP addresses for every known star in the universe.

ARIN has also activated its Unmet Request Policy with the approval of an address request that was larger than the available inventory in the regional IPv4 free pool.

Activation of this policy is another sign of the impending depletion of unassigned IPv4 resources in the ARIN region, reminding businesses of the need to deploy the IPv6. Qualifying organizations now have the choice of accepting the next largest available block of IPv4 addresses or being placed on the Waiting List for Unmet IPv4 Requests.