7/8/2008: Internal News Wire: 2011 Could Mark The Meltdown of the
Internet:

The end of the internet is near - and in less than three years,
according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD). Can it be true? The problem is that the world is running out
of internet addresses. More than 85%% of the available addresses have
already been allocated and the OECD predicts we will have run out
completely by early 2011.

These aren’t the normal web addresses you type into your browser’s
window, and which were recently freed up by Icann (Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the body responsible for
allocating domain names, to allow thousands of new internet domains
ending in, for instance, .london or .xxx.

Beneath these commonsense names lie numerical internet protocol (IP)
addresses that denote individual devices connected to the internet.
These form the foundation for all online communications, from e-mail
and web pages to voice chat and streaming video.

When the current IP address scheme was introduced in 1981 there were
fewer than 500 computers connected to the internet. Its founders could
be forgiven for thinking that allowing for a potential 4 billion would
last for ever. However, less than 30 years later we’re rapidly running
out. Every day thousands of new devices ranging from massive web
servers down to individual mobile phones go online and gobble up more
combinations and permutations.

“Shortages are already acute in some regions,” says the OECD. “The
situation is critical for the future of the internet economy.” As
addresses run dry we will all feel the pinch: internet speeds will
drop and new connections and services (such as internet phone calling)
will either be expensive or simply impossible to obtain. You can see a
countdown clock to this digital doomsday, recalculated daily, at
penrose.uk6x.com.

Just as everyone knows the solution to peak oil (use less of it), the
solution to the IP address shortage is equally obvious: upgrade to new
addresses that can accommodate our hunger for online connectivity.
Such a system, called IPv6 (www.ipv6.org ), was agreed more than a
decade ago, providing enough addresses for billions upon billions of
devices as well as improving internet phone and video calls, and
possibly even helping to end e-mail spam.

Unfortunately - and again like peak oil - just because we know what’s
good for us that doesn’t mean we’ll do it. The OECD notes that
“immediate costs are associated with deployment of IPv6, whereas many
benefits are long-term and depend on a critical mass adopting it”. The
problem is that the new system is not really compatible with the
internet today. If, for example, Google wants to support IPv6, it will
need to build a whole new IPv6 web service, complete with new domain
names, servers and bandwidth.

And so the internet lurches on, patched with technology that may help
it stagger through a few more years, but doomed to slow down unless
big players such as Google, BT and governments start investing now.

Maybe at a philosophical level it’ll be a good thing if the internet
packs up. We will all be able to shut down our computers and forget
the 24/7 economy. I read recently that Stone Age man, with all his
hunting and gathering and other chores, still worked only 22 hours a
week.
Source: Internal Company News Wire via UK