http://www.thenationonlineng.com/dynamicpage.asp?id=64236
By Marris Erute Reporter

VINT CERF, the ‘father of the internet’, has warned that the world is on the verge of running out of the internet addresses that allow computers to identify each other and communicate.

Cerf, one of the world’s leading computer scientists, has asserted that there’s and immediate need for businesses and consumers to switch to the next generation of net addresses.

Every computer and online device is assigned a unique IP address, but according to estimates, the pool of unallocated numbers will soon run dry.

IP addresses are as crucial to websites as street addresses are for businesses but some network engineers predict that we will run out of them in two years.

However, Cerf has said that it’s high time that preparations are made now, otherwise some computers might not be able to go online and the connectivity of the internet might be damaged, unless preparations were made now

He also said that particularly Internet service providers are needed to prepare and that time was running out for a smooth transition.

"This is like the internet running out of telephone numbers and with no new numbers, you can’t have more subscribers," Times Online quoted him, as saying.

Cerf and hid colleagues devised the Internet system in 1977, and he set in place "internet protocol version four" (IPv4) which provided 4.2 billion addresses.

Each IPv4 address is a series of 32 binary digits.

However, with the boost in the number of internet-enabled devices, especially mobile phones, less than 14 per cent of those addresses remain vacant.

According to current figures, the existing IPv4 address will run out in 2010 and possibly as early as next year.

But, scientists have already kept aside a new system, called IPv6, which has been ready for implementation for more than a decade.

Under IPv6, each address has 128 bits and so provides 340 trillion, trillion, trillion different addresses

And it is believed that this will meet humanity’s needs for decades to come.

Both the protocol systems will run simultaneously and IPv4 addresses will still work as normal. But if the IPv6 is not widely adopted, then those using it may find themselves unable to connect across the whole internet.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has warned that shifting to the new addressing scheme was "critical for the future of the internet economy" and was likely to affect "all businesses that require IP addresses for their growth"

Already, China has less than 900 days of worth of internet addresses to issue out. Li Kai, director of IP of the China Internet Network Information Center (CINNIC), has disclosed that they have only 830 days’ worth of IPV4 resources left and thus has called for mass migration to IPV6. He says that if a cybercitizen wants to access the internet, an IP address will be necessary to analyze the domain name and view the pages so when the IPV4 addresses do run out, new cybercitizens will not be able to gain normal access to the internet and the business expansion of network operators will be impossible.

Although the IPV6 addressing system is already being used in America, education websites in China, some website users in Nigeria and in Japan to connect earthquake sensors through a computer system that automatically send alerts to television programmes and turn traffic lights red; Vint Cerf has said that internet service providers are failing in their duty to inform customers of the coming switch over." They are persisting in the ‘nobody is asking for this mentality’ and are not valuing business continuity. When they finally wake up, there is going to be a mad scramble for IPV6 and they will not implement it properly," he told the Times.

Switching to the IPV6 may not necessarily be a threat to addresses on the IPV4 because according to the President, Nigeria Internet Group, Mr. Lanre Ajaji, both the IPV4 and IPV6 can and actually already co-exist. He said, the Africa Internet Information Centre (Afrinic) has issued some Nigerian web addresses to the IPV6, which is being used alongside the IPV4, yet he envisages that with time they will be forced to completely switch over due to incompatibility in hardware.