IPv6 solves the Internet's address shortage and simplifies networking, but its technical elegance may carry a hidden cost: shifting privacy protections from architectural constraints toward policies controlled by Internet providers, corporations and governments. more
IPv4's fixed supply masks a crucial mismatch: addresses can be acquired quickly but deployed only gradually. After 2025's price declines, returns increasingly depend on lease rates, absorption speed and the operator's ability to monetise inventory. more
New transfer data suggests IPv4's apparent decline has reversed as record trading, rising prices, infrastructure demand and tightening supply reveal a market driven by deployment rather than speculation once again despite accelerating IPv6 adoption globally. more
NANOG 97 revealed how AI is reshaping network infrastructure, from lossless data centre fabrics and optical limits to surging investment, while exposing unresolved questions about geolocation, IPv6 adoption and Internet operations in an AI-driven era. more
After two years of falling prices, the IPv4 market has turned decisively. Surging transfer volumes, AI infrastructure demand and looming broadband expansion are tightening supply, pushing prices higher and leaving patient buyers facing a costlier reality. more
Jan Žorž reflects on SEE RIPE's role in uniting a fragmented region, where trust built through informal exchange now underpins internet resilience and helps align engineers with policymakers as regulatory pressures intensify. more
LACNIC's LAC-2025-5 proposal formalises IPv4 sub-assignments, bringing grey-market leasing into a framework, easing scarcity pressures, improving registry accuracy, and lowering barriers for smaller providers while preserving incentives to adopt IPv6, across Latin America and Caribbean. more
As governments, firms and engineers reshape networks, the internet is fragmenting into rival systems. Interoperability erodes, raising costs, curbing rights and weakening resilience, with global growth, innovation and cooperation increasingly at risk. more
Africa's push toward IPv6 cannot bypass IPv4 scarcity, as uneven infrastructure, market dynamics, and governance disputes raise costs, entrench inequality, and risk turning transitional address shortages into a lasting brake on digital development across regions. more
Regional Internet registries, built for coordination, now sit atop scarce IPv4 assets while bearing little liability, suppressing capitalization and imposing "double extraction" that weakens operators, distorts markets and threatens the stability of global internet uniqueness. more
AWS has quietly acquired nine million more IPv4 addresses, turning internet scarcity into strategic leverage. As hyperscalers consolidate dwindling supply worldwide, IPv4 is evolving from legacy protocol into a profitable infrastructure moat for cloud giants. more
The NANOG 95 conference spotlighted breakthroughs in fibre optics, wireless technology, routing security, and quantum computing, offering a forward-looking assessment of internet infrastructure and its vulnerabilities, as reported by APNIC's Geoff Huston. more
The Internet has evolved from a scarcity-driven system into one defined by abundance, reshaping infrastructure, governance, and economic models while challenging long-held assumptions about addressing, network roles, and the future of protocol design. more
As IPv6 adoption accelerates, a new study warns that the disappearance of NAT in home networks is exposing millions of devices to online threats -- potentially fueling a new wave of powerful IoT botnets. more
The shift to IPv6 has escalated into a matter of national security, as nations lagging in adoption are increasingly exposed to cyber threats and diminished control over their digital infrastructure due to the limited availability of IPv4. With IPv6-only environments becoming more common, reliance on IPv4 may lead to slower connectivity, deepening the digital divide and potentially worsening economic disparities. In this geopolitical landscape, moving to IPv6 serves as a critical step toward maintaining digital independence. more