by Eric Rowell (cofounder of www.adollo.com)
That’s right, the number of web addresses are running out, and that’s a fact. How could this be possible?
The Problem with Web Addresses
All URLs (like www.adollo.com) are assigned to its own unique web address. Each of these web addresses are 32 bits, which means that there are 4.3 million possible internet web addresses. At the time this article was written, about 85% of all of the available addresses are already taken, and web experts predict that we will run out of them in about 2 years.
The Future of the Internet
So what’s going to happen? The next version of the internet (IPv6) will support 128 bit web addresses, which is astronomical. If web addresses became 128 bit, every single person on planet earth could own more a thousand websites! That’s alot of websites. It seems apparent that this is really the only solution to problem, but it’s going to come with a price.
Deja Vu
Remember when television went digital? Remember how everyone had to purchase analog to digital converters, buy new TVs, or upgrade thier television services? Well, it’s going to be the same story for stakeholders in the web. Just like when television went digital, there will be a period of time when IPv4 and IPv6 coexist until the world is ready to fully commit to IPv6. During this time, networks will have to support both protocals, just like television stations had to support both analog broadcasts and digital broadcasts until the government stepped in and mandated that every television station only broadcast digital channels.
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