3-FEB-2011: IPv4 address pool in IANA is used up

As of 3 February 2011, the central pool of available IPv4 addresses managed by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) has been depleted. See ARIN's FAQ for the further details. Since July 1994 when IPv6 was first recommended by the IETF, Internet engineers are periodically warning people that IPv4 address space is finite. And the day has come. Of course this is not the end of the Internet. We need to consider, however, some new issues:

• Internet is no longer a unified network of single protocol; it will become a multi-protocol network of IPv4 and IPv6 shortly.
• While quite a new technologies have been developed and are under deployment for the migration to IPv6 (i.e., dumping the old technology of IPv4 and replace it by IPv6), we will still have to endure the fact that IPv4 will be staying around for another few years, or even more than 10 years.
• Promoting IPv6 is essential. I think, however, maintaining the inter-connectivity of the two networks and the services provided there from both networks is even more critical. We don't want two split networks; we still want one unified Internet, don't we?