Europe has run out of IPv4 Address Space

RIPE NCC logo (2015 version)

RIPE NCC has run out of IPv4.

This is hardly surprising and they had predicted it would happen early this week.

The last IPv4 assignment was made at 1535 CET today:

Today, at 15:35 UTC+1 on 25 November 2019, we made our final /22 IPv4 allocation from the last remaining addresses in our available pool. We have now run out of IPv4 addresses.

Our announcement will not come as a surprise for network operators – IPv4 run-out has long been anticipated and planned for by the RIPE community. In fact, it is due to the community’s responsible stewardship of these resources that we have been able to provide many thousands of new networks in our service region with /22 allocations after we reached our last /8 in 2012.

As I previously mentioned RIPE has been preparing for this for some time.

So what now?

With IPv4 “gone” the internet will keep working, but until more ISPs switch over to IPv6 we’re all going to be paying the price, both metaphorically and practically.

By Michele Neylon

Michele is founder and managing director of Irish domain registrar and hosting company Blacknight. Michele has been deeply involved in domain and internet policy discussions for more than a decade. He also co-hosts the Technology.ie podcast.

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