Today RIPE NCC has allocated the latest available IPv4 addresses

Today, the RIPE NCC (European Regional Registrar of Internet - an organization dealing with addressing and routing on the Internet for Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia) issued the last block of IPv4 addresses. Now blocks of IPv4 addresses available for use and distribution will appear only if the current owner releases them, for example, a company goes bankrupt or releases and returns unnecessary address blocks.

IPv4 vs IPv6

IPv4 uses 32-bit (four-byte) addresses, limiting the address space of 4,294,967,296 (2³²) to possible unique addresses. Already in the 1980s, it became apparent that address space allocation was taking place at a much faster pace than was laid down in the IPv4 architecture. This led first to the emergence of class addressing, later classless addressing, and ultimately to the development of a new IPv6 protocol.

In IPv6, the number of addresses is also finite, but there are billions of times more. IPv6 can provide the ability to use more than 300 million IP addresses for every inhabitant of the planet. That is, in the near future, the problem of the lack of IP addresses can be forgotten.

IPv6 in Ukraine

In Ukraine, unfortunately, the commercial use by telecom operators and Internet providers of IPv6 is small. But, most likely, the share of IPv6 in network traffic will gradually increase.