When there are No More IP Addresses

CHENNAI: The ‘dotcom’ industry, which has evolved gracefully into an indispensable business channel in emerging economies after its boom and bust phase, may be at yet another cross roads at the start of this decade. The reason is that the unique IP addresses allotted to websites are peaking at a number of 4 billion globally, and at just 3 million in India. The IPV4 standard of addressing can accommodate only a finite number of IP addresse, which are estimated to be exhausted by 2011-12.

An IP (internet protocol) address, otherwise known as web address, is the unique identification number given to each web space allocated to a particular individual or corporation. The international standard of addressing for this is IPV4 (internet protocol version 4), which allows a finite number of addresses only.

Taking stock of the situation, an alternate system of addressing named IPV6 has been under development for over a decade now. This system is structured in such a way that it allows infinite number of URLs to be allocated. However, despite a clear indication of exhaustion of IP addresses under IPV4, IPV6 deployment remains below 1% globally and near zero in India.

In fact, Sify is the only web service provider which has converted to IPV6 in India, apart from research networks. “Web clients, servers and internet service providers (ISPs) will much rather look at deployment of alternate technologies to circumvent the addressing problem than attempt a complete overhaul of standards,” said Verisign India vice president Shekhar Kirani. “IPV6 deployment stands at a mere 0.45% in the US and 0.24% in China.”

Incidentally, China beat the United States in the amount of web traffic it attracts in Q1 of 2009-10, at 27.59% of global traffic, compared to US’ 22.15%. The growth in traffic YoY has been at 43% from 19.3% last year, whereas US’ has fallen by a marginal 7% from 22.85%.

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