All News

While the large block market showed healthy activity in 2023, the small and mid-block markets experienced noticeable declines from prior years. Avenue4 summarizes the year in one page here.

Pricing was 2021's big story but a few other market factors stood out. /16s appear to be contracting. Transactions among LACNIC, RIPE NCC and APNIC have picked up speed. And market demand for IPv4 space remains strong. Read more.

Price was the big story of the 2021 IPv4 market, while the market demand for IPv4 space remains strong. Avenue4 summarizes the year in one page here.

Travel the IPv4 Market's history and look into its possible futures with APNIC Chief Scientist, Geoff Huston. Read More

Avenue4's Marc Lindsey shares his IPv4 Market insights on this ARIN47 panel. Watch it here.

In this podcast, Avenue4's Marc Lindsey discusses the current state of the IPv4 market - and what it takes to unlock the hidden value in your organization's unused IPv4 Assets. Listen now.

Educational institutions are doing all they can to control costs and find alternative sources for non-tuition-based revenue growth. But many are unaware that their IT organizations are holding onto lucrative sellable assets.

RIPE NCC’s Manager of Public Policy and Internet Governance acknowledges the path to IPv6 dominance is not clear. Read more.

IPv6 adoption has not yet reached an inflexion point; uncertainty remains as to the ultimate outcomes of the adoption effort. Read more.

IPv6 has been in the works since 1998 to address the shortfall of IP addresses available under Ipv4, yet despite its efficiency and security advantages, adoption is still slow. Read more.

Cost, complexity and resource challenges continue to inhibit enterprise IPv6 adoption. Read More

The IPv4 trading market continued its upward trajectory in 2018, hitting all-time highs in the number of transactions, volume of addresses, and pricing. Read More

Avenue4  Vice President and Co-founder Janine Goodman assesses IPv4 market activity in 2018 to date. Read More

In this update to our Insider's Guide, first published in 2015, we lay out key market-proven tips and practices for buyers and sellers in today's IPv4 market. Read More

IPv4 still handles most online traffic according to the Internet Society. Read More

IPv4 Market pioneers Marc Lindsey and Janine Goodman will speak at Interop ITX this Spring.

The IPv4 trading market continued its upward trajectory in 2017, with significant increases in number of transactions, volume of addresses, and pricing.  Read More

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. Read More

More than 20 years into its transition, IPv6 adoption still not gathering enough momentum to overtake as the Internet protocol standard. Read More

The volume of IPv4 numbers transferred in the RIPE NCC transfer market has declined since 2014, but all evidence points to a lack of supply driving the decline, not a lack of demand. Read More

How to work with sophisticated buyers, when to sell and other need-to-know intel from IPv4 market pioneer Marc Lindsey Read More

In his defense of Network Address Translation, APNIC chief scientist Geoff Huston explores the valuable role NAT technology has played in the evolution of the Internet. Read More

Avenue4 announces the launch of ACCELR/8, an automated, order-driven trading platform that promises to transform the IPv4 market. Read More

In CFO magazine’s online report on the market for unused IPv4 addresses, Avenue4's Janine Goodman provides an insider's view of both opportunities and challenges for businesses that may want to enter the IPv4 market and the role CFOs can play. Read More

ISOC's recent "State of the IPv6 Deployment 2017" report provides a good overview of global IPv6 deployment to date but overstates its reach and projections for when IPv6 will finally predominate over IPv4. Read More

The IPv4 trading market saw substantial change in 2016 with rising transaction volumes, relative strengthening of global activity, and escalating prices. Read More

According to Akamai’s Q4 2016 State of the Internet Report, there was a 0.1% quarterly increase in the number of unique IPv4 addresses connecting to the Akamai Intelligent Platform although this reflects an overall decrease compared with last year. Read More

Dyn released its 2016 review of the top global Internet providers, noting that or the first time in 5 years, 2 US carriers were in the top 3. Read More

In his most recent report on IP addressing, Geoff Huston finds that IPv4 continues to have a strong foothold in today’s Internet with 100% of the Internet running over IPv4 and about 10% running over IPv6 dual stacked with IPv4. Read More

In its most recent report on IoT, the Department of Commerce finds that IPv6 adoption, while essential in supporting and sustaining IoT over the long term, still falls far short of where it needs to be. Read More

Everyone knows IPv4 addresses are scarce these days, but what’s really happening in the IPv4 address space?

IPv6 uneven by region, network; IPv4 still has higher connection success rate

Dip in IPv4 connections attributed to Carrier-Grade Network Address Translation solutions and increased IPv6 availability

Not all businesses are ready to deploy IPv6 in a competitive market

IoT progressing just fine in a dual IP environment after all

Dyn Research issued its annual  “Baker’s Dozen” report, measuring the top Internet providers for 2015 based on Dyn’s global IPv4 rankings algorithm. 

Geoff Huston, Author and APNIC’s Chief Scientist: The “reports of [IPv4’s] demise are severely exaggerated!”

IPv4 network continues to grow globally; busy IPv4 transfer market recognized

Trading volumes in 2016 will continue to escalate even as the total supply of numbers in the market contracts; significant purchases by heavyweight tech-sector companies in 2014 and 2015 suggest that they expect to expand their IPv4 infrastructure in the short term

In its first annual IPv4 market report, Avenue4 LLC opens a window into the complex and opaque IPv4 market with analysis of 2015 and predictions for the year to come.

IPv4 network continues to grow in 2015 notwithstanding near global IPv4 free pool exhaustion.

Their latest State of the Internet Report acknowledges a global increase in the number of unique IPv4 addresses connecting to Akamai.

With the depletion of the IPv4 free pool, the IPv4 trading market is inextricably intertwined with the success of the IPv6 transition.

"When clients approached Marc Lindsey in 2008 about a request from the American Registry for Internet Numbers to voluntarily give back unused IP addresses, he researched the issue. Then he advised his clients to hang on to them." So begins the story of Marc Lindsey's entry to the emerging IPv4 trading market--and the story of the founding of Avenue4.

The exhaustion of IPv4 addresses may be a motivational tool for stimulating interest in transitioning to IPv6 but the fundamentals of the industry remain unchanged. 

UK’s Ministry of Defence is sitting on £38.5m worth of IPv4 addresses and, of the 12 (of 24) government departments that responded to a Freedom of Information request made by US-based technology company Infoblox, only two are IPv6 ready.

In its second quarter “State of the Internet Report,” Akami notes IPv4 connections to Akamai worldwide showed an increase in unique IPv4 address global usage of 2.8%.

For the market to handle the expected trading volume and more firmly establish itself as an effective means of globally re-distributing unused IP numbers, it must provide for greater trading transparency and security. In this Network World article, Avenue4's Marc Lindsey contemplates a way forward.

Today, there are anywhere between 800 million to 1 billion potentially available IPv4 numbers in the IPv4 trading market. But buying them is not a straightforward retail experience.

In an examination of the IPv4 address transfer market in APNIC, Goeff Huston finds that the volume of transfers has steadily grown over the last several years, with almost a third of transfers originating out of North America and China taking the lead in transfer activity. Based on advertisement data, transferred addresses appear to be used predominantly to meet operational requirements. He concludes that the best way to ensure actions in the market do not imperil the integrity and utility of addresses is for RIRs to operate accurate registries. Read More

Avenue4 has been certified as a Minority Business Enterprise by the National Minority Supplier Development Council. NMSDC helps its corporate members to improve the diversification and innovation of their suppliers by connecting them to well developed, certified minority business enterprises. NMSDC’s corporate members include many of the largest public and private organizations in the U.S.

In Ars Technica's report on depletion of the North America IPv4 free pool, Avenue4's Janine Goodman provides an insider's overview of how the IPv4 address market will be affected and what buyers need to keep in mind. Read More

Cisco’s Visual Networking Index Report predicts that 41% of all fixed and mobile networked devices will be IPv6 capable in 2019, up from 22% in 2014, and IPv6 traffic will account for 34% of total Internet traffic globally, up from 6% at the end of 2014. Read More

Avenue4 announced that its professionals have brokered transactions in 2014 and 2015 with a total value exceeding $74 million. Avenue4's principals have established unique domain expertise in the IPv4 industry, which allows them to drive transparency and professionalism in the IPv4 market. Read More

Some of the largest mainstream ISPs, including Comcast, AT&T, Deutsche Telecom, KDDI and Time Warner Cable Internet, are driving IPv6 deployment, abandoning a wait and see approach to IPv6 in favor of more aggressively incorporating IPv6 as part of a dual stack service model. This shift may signify a broader changing of the tide for IPv6 adoption. Read More

ARIN expects to activate the IPv4 waiting list this summer. Those on the waiting list will still have options: to begin (or continue) migration to IPv6 or participate in the IPv4 transfer market, which, by then, will be the only avenue available for continuing to obtain IPv4 numbers. Read More

In their Network World article, Avenue4's Marc Lindsey and Janine Goodman provide guidance on navigating the IPv4 market. The article identifies market challenges, and reveals insider tips for both potential buyers and sellers. Read More

The UK government has begun selling its surplus of IPv4 addresses, with the first trance of 150,000 addresses going for approximately £600,000. Read More

At some point over the next few months, ARIN will give out its last free IPv4 address and companies that have continuing IPv4 needs will have to figure out next steps. Fortunately even for those behind in their planning, there’s a clear path forward. Read More

How long the IPv4 market lasts will depend on address consumption going forward; however, at least for the next 4 years, there should be options available to companies not yet ready to invest in IPv6. Read More

The IPv4 market may be the best path to IPv6 migration. Avenue4's Marc Lindsey describes approaches for transacting in the IPv4 market and what it takes to complete a successful address transfer. Read More

ICANN officials send signals that ICANN intends to be the “sole source prime contractor for IANA functions in perpetuity.” Read More

IPv6 deployment requires research, lab testing, and then testing with hardware, operating systems, and applications to determine how IPv6 actually impacts the system. Sometimes companies are unwilling to allow the necessary time to execute on this research and testing phase in which case IT professionals should take the initiative to begin the process early. Read More

For ISPs and big enterprises that run their own Internet presence, implementing IPv6 may require changes to automated processes and other back-end components with no immediate reward. Read More

The editors of “Attorney at Work” interview Marc Lindsey and Janine Goodman on launching Avenue4. Read More

The Department of Defense is moving too slowly on IPv6 deployment and its failure to make IPv6 conversion a priority is making it vulnerable to malicious activity using the new protocol. Read More

Of the top 10 countries connected to Akamai's Intelligent Platform, only the U.S. saw a decline in growth over the prior quarter, and of the total 239 countries with connections, 70% have shown growth in their unique IPv4 address count year over year. Read More

Network World reported on predictions from Reddit forum readers on when IPv4 would become obsolete. Answers ranged the gamut, with many speculating that IPv4 will still play a major role for 20 years or more. Read More

In a recent blog post, Hadley Beeman of the UK's Office of the CTO disclosed that Ernst & Young is evaluating whether the UK government should reconfigure its internal networks in order to free up unused IPv4 addresses and make them available for sale. Read More

Dyn Research’s 2014 edition of “The Baker’s Dozen” reviews the 13 largest global Internet providers based on customer and market penetration over the IPv4 Internet. The report acknowledges IPv4’s continuing dominance over IPv6, and finds that Level 3 (with the nearly complete integration of Global Crossing’s network), Teliasonera, and NTT lead the ISP market. Read More

Marc Lindsey was a featured speaker during the ARIN 35 panel discussion on the IPv4 transfer market.

In 2014, a few of the largest Internet service providers employed IPv6, but there is limited momentum generally because network providers continue to depend on IPv4. Geoff Huston, in his 2014 annual report on the status of the Internet and Internet addressing, analyzes IPv4 and IPv6 allocations and assignments across all RIRs and reviews the current transfer market. Read More

The British Office of Communications (Ofcom) doesn’t see the need for urgency in migrating to IPv6. It’s “recycling” its existing IPv4 addresses by relying on CGN technology to mitigate against IPv4 shortages in Europe. Read More

In a recent report, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) analyzes the diffusion (or lack thereof) of IPv6 -- finding that transition is an easy decision for some companies but for others there are still too few incentives to justify the effort and expense. Read More

In March 2014, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced that it will transition its oversight of the Internet Assigned Number Authority (IANA) functions to the broader global community. IANA functions cover both IP number resources and domain names. Milton Mueller offers a summary of the IANA transition, and its implications. He concludes that oversight of number administration and domain name administration are considerably different, and these functions should be separated with accountability for each assigned to different organizations. Read More

Migration of the Internet from IPv4 to IPv6 is inevitable, but it's not imminent. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) offers a sobering evaluation of the IPv6 transition, concluding that the transition is in its early stages and that there are some considerable impediments to overcome. Read More

Signaling a historic shift in Internet governance, the United States (specifically, the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA)) announced on March 14, 2014, that it plans to transition its IANA functions role to the “global multi-stakeholder community." While much of the focus is on domain name-related functions, IP number allocations and technical coordination are also important IANA functions. Read More

APNIC, RIPE NCC and LACNIC have virtually exhausted their free-pool supplies. Now, their allocations are capped at 1,024 numbers. ARIN is rapidly heading toward exhaustion in early 2015. APNIC's Chief Scientist, Geoff Huston, publishes daily updates on the actual IPv4 free-pool supply of each RIR.

In “Dimensioning the Elephant,” Milton Mueller, Brenden Kuerbis and Hadi Asghari analyze the economics of the emerging IPv4 trading market and its implications for Internet policy. Read More

ISPs, hosting companies and content providers are investing in IPv4 by buying blocks of IPv4 numbers in the secondary market while planning their long-term migration to IPv6. In a Network World article, Avenue4's Marc Lindsey observed that, "A lot of IPv4 buyers . . . want a three-to-five year hedge." Read More

ARIN's role in the sales of legacy numbers (given out before ARIN formed in 1997) is controversial. Because legacy number holders aren't bound by contracts with ARIN, ARIN's primary means to enforce policy is to withhold registry updates for non-compliant transactions. Does this lead to greater policy compliance or more registry database inaccuracies? Read More

In 2010, Avenue4’s Marc Lindsey cautioned legacy holders against entering into ARIN’s LRSA (legacy registration services agreement) program. ARIN’s LRSA has since been revised, but fundamental concerns remain. Signing the LRSA is a disadvantage unless you are a successor in interest to an original legacy block registrant and need ARIN to update its registry to identify you as the rightful holder of the block. And even then, proceed with caution. Read More