Are We Running Out of Interwebs?

It may seem unthinkable, but when you do stop to think about it, it's an undeniable fact: There is a finite number of IP addresses.  What's more, those IPs are running out fast. In fact, ICANN, which oversees Internet domains, has already issued its last block of IPv4 addresses.

OK, what does that mean?  As Andy Champagne, engineering vice president at Internet giant Akamai, was recently quoted:

"If we don't have ability to issue new IP addresses, next big app that comes online -- Twitter, Facebook -- won't have capacity to get space on the Internet. Cable and broadband providers can't get new addresses and can't expand to new markets."

The solution?  IPv6.  Sounds like a new Subaru model, I know, but you can consider it to be the new protocol of the new Internet. 

This new protocol will be tested by the likes of Facebook, Yahoo, and Google -- all together, at the same time -- on June 8, 2011: World IPv6 Day  In our neck of the woods, Salem-based web hosting data center Dynamic Internet has taken the initiative to participate in the test, and they are already integrating IPv6 into its services. 

Are you ready for IPv6?  Learn more here: http://test-ipv6.com/ipv6day.html