An IP address is a unique address (such as 147.132.42.18) that certain electronic devices use in order to identify and communicate with each other on a computer network utilizing the Internet Protocol standard (IP) – in simpler terms, a computer address. The IP address acts as a locator for one IP device to find another and interact with it. On the public Internet (as opposed to private internets or intranets), IP addresses are managed and created by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). The IANA generally allocates super-blocks to Regional Internet Registries, who in turn allocate smaller blocks to Internet service providers and enterprises. Read the full background at IP Addressing Wikipedia
The US government wants to hear from organizations interested in running some of the internet's key resources, including the master lists of IP address space and domain names.
The Department of Commerce last week published a request for information, a step before potentially putting a contract out to bidding, soliciting interest from anybody interested in taking over the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. more»
It's fascinating to watch the Internet technical community grapple with policy economics as they face the problems creating by the growing scarcity of IPv4 addresses. The Internet Governance Project (IGP) is analyzing the innovative policies that ARIN, RIPE and APNIC are considering as a response to the depletion of IPv4 addresses. more»
Ministers from more than 40 countries are discussing the future of Internet economy at OECD meeting in Seol, Korea, 17-18 Jun. Discussions include security, competition, and strengthening the role of the Internet economy in enhancing social and economic development as well as agreement on new ways to improve global co-ordination and co-operation. The Number Resource Organization (NRO) today issued an appeal for investment in IPv6 infrastructure. more»
...IP addresses are not consistently reliable means of identifying users. Law enforcement officials and a family in Gretna, Virginia and learned that lesson the hard way after their home was searched by a law enforcement team that included Miami Heat center Shaquille O'Neal, according to a law enforcement official. more»
On June 30, U.S. federal government officials expect to declare an early victory on the IPv6 front. But they admit that meeting their much-heralded June 30 deadline for IPv6 compatibility is just the opening salvo of a long-term battle to get their networks ready for the Internet of the future. Under a White House policy issued in August 2005, all federal agencies must demonstrate the ability to pass IPv6 packets across their backbone networks by this deadline. more»
Chinese sources report that the country's IP address (IPv4) resources can only sustain 830 days at current distribution rates if no measures are adopted. Li Kai, the director of IP team at China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) said most of China is still using IPv4 (as opposed to the newer virtually unlimited IPv6) and the resource is 80% used up. China has been aggressively moving towards the adoption of IPv6 and is urging network operators around the world to implement the new addressing scheme as soon as possible. more»
In the upcoming Internet Measurement Conference being held next week in Vouliagmeni, Greece, a team of six researchers will be presenting a paper called "Census and Survey of the Visible Internet," based on a comprehensive census of more 2.8 billion allocated IP addresses on the Internet. The research is claimed to be the first comprehensive census of its kind in more than two decades. more»
We don't give enough credit to people who will sacrifice themselves trying to plug the IPv4 dam with some NAT-putty. They even dream of a NAT66 filled afterlife. The growing IPv6 traffic trickle was given evidence at the recent RIPE 57 meeting in Dubai in a number of presentations, including a most edifying Google presentation. Noteworthy to see France with a 0.65% IPv6 penetration... more»
As a response to the forecasts prepared by several investigators indicating that by the year 2011 the central pool of version 4 (IPv4) Internet addresses could be completely depleted, LACNIC announces it is launching a regional campaign so that all the region's networks will be adapted to the new version 6 of the protocol (IPv6) before January 1st, 2011. 185 weeks, and counting... ›››