ReadWriteWeb

OpenDNS is offering a sandbox for people to test IPv6. The service is a fully compliant DNS resolver that's open to anyone, anywhere.

It is intended to help those tasked with migrating from IPv4 to 1Pv6. It allows people to experiment by having their networks talk to IPv6-ready DNS servers.

IANA handed out the last of the IPv4 licenses earlier this week, as we reported. The analyst firm ZapThink compares the impending depletion of IPv4 addresses to Y2K. Y2K ultimately led to little more than a boom in ERP and colloidal silver sales, but as ZapThink points out there was a fundamental difference: "We're not nearly as worked up about IPv4 exhaustion as we were about Y2K ahead of the fact."

Had fewer companies done due-diligence to update systems for Y2K, could it have been more of a problem? That's controversial even today. Clearly, some people overreacted, but there were some problems as a result of Y2K. Could it have been worse? And are we paying enough attention to IPv6?

Turn on the "No Vacancy" sign. The Internet has run out of room.

At a ceremony this morning in Florida, the last block of IPv4 addresses were allocated to the Regional Internet Registries, whose job it is to further distribute these final addresses to others.

Today's announcement has been anticipated for quite some time, as the explosion of Internet-enabled devices and the growing number of Internet users has accelerated the demand for IP addresses.

Every Thursday evening PT we'll be reviewing Internet of Things developments from the past week. Internet of Things is a term for when everyday objects are connected to the Internet. It's becoming an increasingly relevant trend for the Web and media, so we want to keep you updated with the latest news. Tune in every Thursday evening for our updates.

This week we discuss the impending Internet address apocalypse, RFID's sweet spot, why the U.S. is behind China on IoT, emotional sensors, and more!

The number of available IPv4 addresses is expected to run out in less than a year, as we've reported before. The proliferation of mobile devices and sensors, all of which use IP addresses, is depleting the total number available. Organizations need to migrate to the newer IPv6 standard to avoid running out of these critical points in the network.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued a free 188 page report to help guide managers, network engineers, transition teams and others working on IPv6 deployments. The report explains IPv6, covers IPv6 security issues, explains how to deploy dual IPv4/IPv6 environments and more.

Are you ready for IPv6? Did you know you'd better soon be ready? Is your ISP, or even country ready, and do they know why?

If you don't even know what IPv6 is, you are not alone. There are billions of people who don't know, and they shouldn't, since this fundamental protocol - IPv6 being the latest version of IP, invented in the 1970s by Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn - is so deeply buried in the Internet services we use every day that when you are forced to see it, you know something is very, very wrong.

The Internet will run out of Internet addresses in about 1 year's time, we were told today by John Curran, President and CEO of the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN). The same thing was also stated recently by Vint Cerf, Google's Chief Internet Evangelist.

The main reason for the concern? There's an explosion of data about to happen to the Web - thanks largely to sensor data, smart grids, RFID and other Internet of Things data. Other reasons include the increase in mobile devices connecting to the Internet and the annual growth in user-generated content on the Web.

Today's Internet was built largely on the IPv4 or Internet Protocol version four, first introduced in 1980. Now, three decades on and with mobile Internet tracing a shining arc across the virtual firmament, the Internet is running out of available IP addresses. So maintain the 130 delegates to the IPv6 Summit in Ireland, meeting today at Dublin Castle.

"Despite having nearly four and a half billion addresses, predications estimate that IPv4 will reach maximum capacity by September 2011," according to Irish IPv6 Task Force chair, Mícheál Ó Foghlú.

"By 2010 we will have run out of IP addresses if we don't do something about it," Vint Cerf, Google's chief Internet evangelist and the man commonly referred to as "the father of the Internet," told ReadWriteWeb last month. (Video embedded below.)

With the number of Internet-enabled devices particularly mobile phones soaring, very few IP addresses remain vacant, and with only about 20 per cent of the world connected to the Net, that's a problem. And consumers, if you think this doesn't affect you, think again. That latest gadget you bought - is it IPv6 compatible?