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IP Shortage In Asia Just Myth, Says APNIC

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the billions-and-billions dept.

rekkanoryo writes "News.com is carrying a story in which the Director General of APNIC (Asia Pacific Network Information Centre) says that the "shortage" of IP addresses in Asia is a total myth. There's also some talk of IPv6 in this article."

10 of 214 comments (clear)

  1. Y2K by RazzleFrog · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sometimes I think it is ok to exagerrate the urgency of a problem. People were predicting that Y2K would be the end of the world which was probably a little extreme (picture Simpsons episode with plains falling straight out of the sky). Did it help get stuff done, though? Definitely. So now you tell the executives that the world will end if we don't go to IPv6 and see what happens. Who cares if the truth is 2 or 10 years away.

    1. Re:Y2K by Trolling4Dollars · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Is this anything like Lintilla's "Crisis Inducer" in the Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy radio series? After all, nothing but encroaching deafness could lead one to write such great musical masterpieces like Beethoven, correct? ;P

      --
      Un-news
    2. Re:Y2K by Malc · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The difference between this and Y2K (and Euro adoption) is that there is no drop dead date. It will happen gradually. What I suspect will happen is that prices will gradually increase as demand outstrips supply. At some point, companies will start saying that it is more cost effective to go IPv6. When that happens isn't so easily predicted.

  2. IP Shortage In Asia Just Myth, Says APNIC by macdaddy357 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    And they also claimed that SARS was not a problem in China until it blew up in their faces. They just refuse to admit that they have a problem.

    --
    How ya like dat?
    1. Re:IP Shortage In Asia Just Myth, Says APNIC by davew · · Score: 2, Insightful

      We're talking about the policies of the Regional Internet Registry in the Asia Pacific region, which are decided by the consensus of the industry and implemented by the body (based in Australia) and the National Internet Registries (based on their respective countries), using exactly the same IP space which the rest of us use.

      That's an important one, people - we're all going to run out at the same time. I never got this "IP Shortage in Asia" stuff because their shortage is our shortage, whoever "we" are.

      And this guy posts a one liner comparing it to the reaction of the Chinese government to SARS, hits "submit" and gets modded +5, Insightful.

      I'm not in the habit of criticising moderation - it's supposed to knock out trolls, not decide whose IQ is biggest - but jeez. Am I the only one who doesn't get this?

  3. nearsighted by dollargonzo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    that is the same as adding another digit to the 2-digit representation of years. yes, it will solve the problem at hand, but while you are at it, you might as well redo the system, since you are going to have to change anyway.

    --
    BSD is for people who love UNIX. Linux is for those who hate Microsoft.
  4. Oh god no! by Raul654 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Adding area code features means now you have relativity playing a part in addresses -- 5.5.5.5 would no longer be unique, it could mean any one of hundreds of computers, depending on the area code. So unless you explictly use the area code every time (which, would be the same as using longer network names, which you want to avoid) you're going to run into problems. IN the tradeoff of short network address vs unqiueness, I'd take uniqueness every time.

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    To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
    --E.C. Stanton
  5. NAT by berkeleyjunk · · Score: 2, Insightful

    People in asia have NAT boxes too. That will keep them connected for a while, before the world moves to IPv6(if?). For phones and toasters with IPv6 addresses they can tunnel over IPv4 as I do today with my IPv6 network at home.

  6. IP addresses for cell phones not needed by codefool · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If I surf from my cell phone, am I really needing an IP address, or it it mux'd through the cell carrier? If I do have an IP address, then its a waste - the cell carrier could mux several web sessions through the single address.

    --
    "Stop whining!" - Arnold, as Mr. Kimble
  7. Grind to a Halt? Yeah right. by hesiod · · Score: 3, Insightful

    > When that final address is used up in a couple of years, the online world will grind to a halt. And perhaps, so will the economies of the three North Asian nations.

    I don't mean to downplay the seriousness of this situation, which I doubt, but the online world will not "grind to a halt." Will all of the existing servers fail when that happens? No way. The only thing that will stop is growth, which is still a problem, but won't bring down the 'Net.