Two years since the ARIN free pool was entirely depleted, IPv4 shows no signs it is ready to cede its position as the dominant Internet protocol.
In his annual review of IP addressing, Geoff Huston finds that the Internet, which is continuing to grow exponentially, is still heavily dependent on the IPv4 network, but that IPv4 is withstanding the pressure.
One key reason: the Internet has morphed into a client/server network model, where clients can initiate network transactions with servers but not other clients, a model to which network address translation technology is well suited.
According to Huston, there are 15 billion connected devices feeding off of 2 billion active IPv4 addresses. Since there is little urgency to migrate off of IPv4, IPv6 adoption continues at a measured pace, with the result that – at least for the foreseeable future – entrepreneurialism and innovation are being placed on the back-burner.
