Remember when people used to call the Internet the “Information Superhighway?” Well, according to a a new survey conducted by the European Commission,  we may be headed toward a huge dead end sign. According to an article in the Telegraph, if world governments and major businesses don’t make a major technological transition from IPv4, the Internet’s current primary addressing protocol, to IPv6, the number of available Internet addresses will be virtually gone within the next two years.

From the article:

The IPv4 and IPv6 protocols refer to the way in which web addresses are created and assigned. Each website has a unique IP address, represented by a string of numbers, such as 192.168.1.1, which are then given a user-friendly web address, such as telegraph.co.uk, to make them easier to remember.

The IPv4 protocol uses 32-bit addresses, which enables the web to support around 4.3 billion unique addresses. By contrast, IPv6 uses 128-bit web addresses, creating billions of possible new web addresses – experts estimate it could assign a unique address for every blade of grass on the planet.

The EC survey found that of the 610 government, educational and other industry organisations questioned across Europe, the Middle East and Asia, just 17 per cent have upgraded to IPv6. The Commission has warned that the timely deployment of the protocol is vital to the growth and stability of the internet.

“In the last 10 years, the internet has become hugely important worldwide from a socio-economic perspective,” said Detlef Eckert, a director in the Commission’s information society and media directorate-general. “Only by ensuring that all devices connected to the internet are compatible with IPv6 can we stay connected and safeguard sustainable growth of the internet and the global digital economy, now and in the years to come.”

While this news sounds pretty significant, there’s really no need to raise any alarmist flags just yet. Engineers have known about this problem for sometime, and the Internet is too valuable a resource for major organizations to not make the transition to IPv6.

It is interesting to see how the Internet has evolved so rapidly in such a short period of time. When the Internet first came into existence, I doubt anyone could have foreseen how critical a role the web would play in the daily lives of billions of people around the world. It just goes to show you how important it is to keep tabs about your digital life online. There are countless technological innovations occurring everyday. If you’re not on top of them, you are doing yourself and your business a tremendous disservice.

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