No more IP Addresses or so we thought!

MIAMI – The global warehouse for Internet addresses ran empty on Thursday.

The non-profit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) doled out its last five batches of “IP” numbers that identify destinations for digital traffic.

“A pool of more than four billion Internet addresses has been emptied this morning,” ICANN chief Rod Beckstrom said in a Miami press conference.

“It is completely depleted. There are no more.”

He brushed aside fears of modern life being devastated by an “IPocalypse,” saying Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) worldwide will be doling out remaining addresses to support a shift to a bountiful new “IPv6” format.

“It is like running out of license plates,” said Internet Architecture Board chairman Olaf Kolkman. “Driving on the road the next day would not change.”

The touted solution to the problem is a switch to an “IPv6” format which allows trillions of Internet addresses, while the current IPv4 standard provides a meagre four billion or so.

Thanks John B for the contribution.