The rapid growth and diffusion of addressable technology often faces a point where you reach the limit of the original address system. This happened in telephones some years ago, as many area codes reached capacity, and the industry responded by changing how some numbers were assigned (opening up new opportunities for area codes). To illustrate, since I've been in Knoxville, our area code has changed twice.
For the last few years, the rapid growth of the Internet has meant that the original addressing system (known as IPv4) had an upper limit (about 4.3 billion unique addresses) that was going to be reached eventually. The administrative group overseeing the addressing system ICANN) has developed a new standard (IPv6) that will deal with the problem, at least for a while. However, for that to work, the network system needs to be able to switch to that newer system, which most systems and equipment aren't designed to do. Google estimated that less than half a percent of Google visitors would be capable of utilizing IPv6 addresses.
Still, no need to run out in a panic and grab addresses - in this case "runs out" means that ICANN has allocated the final chunks of available Internet addresses (tens of millions each) to various regional associations to use. But it does suggest the need to push for a transition to equipment and software that can handle the new system.
"Internet Runs Out of IP Addresses", Information Week
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