Recent Department of Defense IPv4 activity and announcements about IPv6 indicate a shift in their perspective and suggest potential impacts on the IPv4 address market. The shift could include the release of up to 175 million IPv4 addresses in the coming years, creating a risk of a glut in the market. For perspective, the market has transferred 380 million addresses over eleven years.

We refer to the internet services we use with names like hilcoglobal.com but those names hide a layer of numbers. These are internet protocol, or IP, addresses. The most widely deployed version is IPv4. It has a theoretical maximum of about 4.3 billion addresses.

In the world of networking, internet connectivity is covered by the mass media either thinly or inaccurately. Or both. Most news outlets only publish reviews of consumer products. Ditto publications about personal computers and handheld devices.

Some bad actors in the email space misuse the system (sending unsolicited bulk email or phishing, for example). To combat this online pollution, systems have been developed that mark such senders for exclusion from the system. Understanding the scoring, monitoring and cleanup of such addresses is an important part of any IP transfer.

Among the problems created by the early design of the internet was the limited supply of IP addresses. To help solve this problem, markets have evolved, creating redistribution paths for “surplus” addresses. To read about the transfer of these assets, the changes taking place and to get some idea of the possible future…

Pronounced “cider,” CIDR stands for Classless Inter-Domain Routing. CIDR is a method for summarizing IP addresses. Its original goal was to slow the exhaustion of IPv4 addresses and help extend the life of IPv4. It also improved the efficiency of IP address assignments, and overall significantly improved the availability.

Preparing for this session has provided an opportunity to research how the IPv4 address market has affected the deployment of IPv6. To begin, we look at the total addresses transferred and the number of addresses transferred over time.

In a publication released on October 2, 2020, RIPE NCC reported its first seizure of IPv4 registration rights pursuant to a Dutch court order.  Pursuant to the order, RIPE NCC effectuated a transfer of the IP Addresses from the liquidating debtor to its creditor. 

One reason the Internet is so robust is that authority is decentralized: every network is run independently. Each network operator (whether a major cable or mobile company or community WISP (wireless ISP)) decides who they will connect to. As those networks connect, they tell each other what IP addresses they know how to reach.

With address prices rising, the reasons you may want to become a lessor are clear: extended predictable revenue. Leasing creates an opportunity to monetize IP addresses and sell an IP block for a higher price in the future versus in the current market – it allows the lessor to keep the IPv4 block in case of future need.

Recently, I had a conversation with someone whom I would classify as an IPv4 market opponent while I was at the African Network Information Center (AFRINIC) in Nairobi. It was a useful conversation for me, and hopefully for him as well.

IPv4, or Internet Protocol version 4, is a set of rules that allows devices, like computers and phones, to exchange data on the Internet. Each device and domain connected to the Internet is assigned a unique number, called an IP address. These addresses ensure data is routed to the correct device.