[arin-announce] IPv4 Address Space

[Member Services]

There have been press articles posted over the past 
year that make statements about the remaining pool 
of IPv4 address space.  A recent article states there 
is a shortage and that Internet Protocol Numbers will 
run out some time in the year 2005.

The Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) do not 
themselves make predictions about when the remaining 
IPv4 address space will be depleted.  They do, however, 
report on the rates of RIR allocation of IPv4 address 
space and on the state of the remaining pool of unicast 
IPv4 address space.

The RIRs report statistics regarding IPv4 allocation on 
their respective web sites and present a "Joint 
Statistics" report at each of the RIR meetings and at 
other Internet industry meetings several times yearly.  
The most recent presentation on this subject can be 
found at the following location.

     http://www.arin.net/statistics/index.html

This report states that the RIRs have collectively 
allocated 19.59 /8 equivalents between the dates of 
January 1999 and June 2003 (4.5 years).  It also 
identifies that there are 91 /8 equivalents held by the 
IANA in reserve for future allocation by the RIRs.

The RIRs will continue to report this information on a 
regular basis and will work closely with the IANA to 
ensure the efficient management of the remaining 
IPv4 address space.

Richard Jimmerson
Director of Operations
American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)