They need to add more tubes to the series!
Bad news for current Mozilla users.
IT budgets are going to rise on this news!
Those with existing networks may have more problems with equipment, but what we are doing is all new, and I've spec'ed the correct equipment. I'm just glad I'm no longer maintaining a (soon-to-be) legacy network.
/johnny
Would someone please logoff, I need to check my email!
All the way back in 1991, when I first started using the internet, I was astonished that there were so few IP addresses. I honestly don’t understand how the heck anyone engaged in planning for the future could, at that time, allocate fewer digits than the number of people in the world. By 1997, when I was working in a single lab where there were on the order of 3 computers for every employee, all networked together, I realized with certainty the situation had to be addressed rather soon. About that time, even our utility providers had assigned unique IPs to various equipment that was connected to the home office.
I am somewhat concerned that IPv6 (which I think is 2^16, ~65,000, more addresses than current) will prove insufficient, and that instead we should be going to an IPv8 configuration instead.
There is an easy way to encouage businesses to give up addresses that they are sitting on. Start charging $.01 per address annually. I suspect that many firms that are sitting on litterally millions of addresses will start to rethink that policy and turn more address space back.
Further, if IPv6 is left as free, then there will be new drive to make the move and convert. This will in turn free up more address space.
Another move would be to make the local host address 255.0.0.1 instead of 127.0.0.0. Likewise the local network would be 255.0.0.2 - 255.255.254.0 - .255
There should be a simple rule requiring proof of actual, public devices using public IPs or they must be forfeited back to IANA.
There would BE no shortage if not for those two groups of addressees.