Internet Founding Father Warns Net Addresses Will Run Out By 2010

October 31, 2007 7:38 a.m. EST

(AHN) - Internet service providers have been urged to roll out the next generation of net addresses before the current addresses runs out completely.

The Internet founding father Vint Cerf told BBC News that the existing pool of addresses will be exhausted by 2010.

Each device that goes online - from a computer to a router to a phone - is allocated a unique IP address. The current system is called IPv4 and has provision for four billion addresses.

However, as the number of devices going online has significantly increased, this has resulted in the impending shortage.

The new protocol, called IPv6 has been ready for 10 years, waiting to be rolled out. It will provide 340 trillion trillion trillion separate addresses and meet the global demand for decades to come.

Internet service providers have yet to implement IPv6 although new hardware devices are compatible with the system.

Speaking to BBC News, Cerf said: "The reason they haven't - which is quite understandable - is that customers haven't asked for it yet. My job ... is to persuade them to ask for it. If you don't ask for it, then when you most want it you won't have it."

The current pool of IPv4 address is expected to run out by 2010/2011. This will not prevent the Internet from functioning but people who want IPv4 address won't get one. So if a network does not support IPv6 and people can't get IPv4 address, they won't be able to get on the Internet.

Asian countries like China, Japan and Korea have started rolling out the new IPv6 system. The European Union is still reviewing methods which would encourage implementation.

An issue to be factored in is cost; Internet service providers will need to run the two systems in tandem since they are not compatible.

Cerf played a key role in the development of the protocols which underpin the Internet as it's now recognized. He will shortly be stepping down as chairman of Icann, the body which oversees the net.