News Details  :

The current version of IP addresses allotted to websites - IPV4 - is almost getting exhausted. This version can accommodate only a limited number of IP addresses, which is likely to be exhausted by 2011-12.



Although there are alternate systems of addressing, such as IPV6, only a limited number of deployments have been made till date. IPV6 deployment remains below 1 percent globally and near-zero in India.



An IP (internet protocol) address, or web address, is the unique identification number given to each web space of a particular individual or corporation. The international standard of addressing this is IPV4, which allows only a limited number of addresses. While the unique IP addresses allotted to websites are peaking at four billion globally, it is growing at just three million in India.



Sify is perhaps the only web service provider that has converted to IPV6 in India, apart from Research Networks. “Web clients, servers and internet service providers (ISPs) would prefer deployment of alternate technologies to circumvent the addressing problem than attempt a complete overhaul of standards,� said Verisign India VP Shekhar Kirani.



“It is in emerging economies where the IP address crunch will be felt,� said Sify Technologies global infrastructure operations vice-president PK Saji. “Around 67 percent of the world’s IP addresses have been allocated to the US, 17 percent to the UK and 9 percent to Asia. But, it is in Asia that the demand for IP addresses has grown rapidly over the past year,� he said.