IPv4's Funeral Expected to Come Thursday
A press conference taking place on Thursday in Miami is expected to mark the last allocation of Internet Protocol, Version 4 addresses by the central authority that assigns them.
The event, which will take place at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time and be shared via webcast, will bring together four nonprofit organizations that coordinate the Internet's addressing system, according to an advisory sent to media on Tuesday. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the Number Resources Organization, the Internet Architecture Board and the Internet Society all are scheduled to participate.
The advisory specifies that the event will concern the dwindling number of IPv4 addresses. The total supply of 4.3 billion IPv4 addresses has been nearing depletion for several years, leading to warnings that enterprises and Internet service providers (ISPs) should adopt IPv6, a next-generation protocol with virtually unlimited addresses.
