Reasons for supporting IPv6 continue to pile up
Network and Web site operators are coming under increasing pressure to support IPv6 -- the long-anticipated upgrade to the Internet's main communications protocol -- as more market indicators point to the rapid depletion of addresses for IPv4.
The Number Resource Organization (NRO announced on Tuesday that only 8% of IPv4 addresses remain unallocated. The NRO consists of the five Regional Internet Registries, which dole out blocks of IPv4 and IPv6 address space to carriers.
The NRO's latest figures are significant because the Internet infrastructure must be upgraded to support both IPv4 and IPv6. IPv4 uses 32-bit addresses and can support 4.3 billion devices connected directly to the Internet. IPv6, on the other hand, uses 128-bit addresses and supports a virtually unlimited number of devices.
