This one piqued my curiosity this morning.
There is no IPv4 left. While that’s not something that non-techies care about (yet) it is something that people in the technical community are worried about at some level.
Within the RIPE region the IP address allocation policy is governed by “the last /8 policy”.
A potential loophole in the policy allows new LIRs to get an IP allocation, while existing LIRs would find it practically impossible to get one.
Why would this matter?
Well if you want to get a block of IPs now you’re probably going to have to pay thousands of Euro for them. There’s an active aftermarket in IPv4 address space and the prices aren’t that low..
Apparently RIPE members have voiced their concerns about this so RIPE staff have been running the numbers to see exactly what’s going on. You can explore that data here.
Earlier today Nigel Titley, Chair of RIPE NCC’s Executive Board, emailed all members to ask for their input on this via the RIPE members mailing list.
Let’s get the popcorn!
