The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers last week said it was ready to start assigning Internet addresses using the latest version of Internet Protocol, IPv6.

At a meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, last week, ICANN, which is in charge of allocating IP addresses, said that it has added the latest version of Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) to the Internet's Domain Name Servers (DNS) root server system.

Domain Name Service and Internet Protocol is a data packet addressing system that allows information to navigate across the Internet via the correct servers and computers. DNS servers deployed throughout the Internet -- synchronised with ICANN's servers -- provide a listing of machine IP addresses linked to more familiar human readable domain names (for instance, www.zdnet.com.au).

The version of Internet Protocol currently used, IPv4, relies on 32-bit IP addresses (usually represented, for instance, as an IP number 123.45.67.89). Eventually IPv4 will run out of unique numbers to identify all the servers and machines that make up the Internet. IPv6 uses longer 128-bit addresses -- thus providing more possible unique IP numbers to be assigned addresses.

Whilst ever ICANN's root DNS servers couldn't understand the new longer addresses, they couldn't locate them. Now businesses and individuals in some countries who want to sign up for an IPv6 service will be able to communicate with people using IPv4 addresses.

Initially IPv6 support will be seen on Japan's (.jp) and Korea's (.kr) country codes. France (.fr) will be next.

"I was surprised that ICANN had not already been assigning IPv6 addresses and domains," said Michael Howard, an analyst with Infonetics Research. "It is a necessary step in the development and adoption of IPv6."

As more mobile devices come online and new services like Internet telephony gain momentum throughout the world, the need for IP addresses will grow. Asia and Europe are likely to be the first countries to experience an IP address shortage. There are two reasons: First, consumers in these markets are adopting newer technology faster than they are in the United States. Second, Europe and Asia were also originally given a much smaller pool of addresses than the United States, which holds more IP addresses than any other country.

In the United States, the technology will probably be adopted at a much slower pace. But commercial adoption could be accelerated by the U.S. Department of Defense. In June 2003, it set a mandate that all defense agencies be IPv6-ready by 2008. The agency has helped develop the Moonv6 network, which serves as a test bed for service providers and equipment makers testing IPv6 technology.

Experts agree that IPv4 and IPv6 will coexist for many years.

"This is really the first step forward in making IPv6 a useful protocol," Howard said. "A full conversion to IPv6 is still several years away. We won't likely even start to see widespread adoption until 2008 or 2010."

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