It seems that every five years, news emerges that the digital sky is falling in.
Back in2010and2015, rumors spread that the internet would soon run out of IP addresses.
Every computer and smartphone must have an IP address to reach the internet.
This is how the machine youre using is able to view this article.
An IP address is the unique identifying code for each gadget accessing the internet.
Back then, this was more than enough as so few people even knew about the internet.
But in 2019, some homes may have as many as 20 IP addresses one for each electronic rig.
These IP addresses are being used up across Europe at a rate of 11 every minute.
It’s free, every week, in your inbox.
So why am I fairly relaxed about all this?
The internet addresses that are running out are version 4 addresses.
Their use increased significantly when the internet was becoming popular for ordinary users from the mid-1990s onwards.
But experts recognized over 15 years ago that a better addressing system was needed.
The newest one we have is version 6.
As you will recall, version 4 addresses are 32 digits long.
Version 6 has 128.
That gives two to the power of 128 combinations, or 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 addresses.
This equals 340undecillionpotential addresses a magnificently large number.
It will take a long time to replace, especially considering the number of devices already using the internet.
So will longer and longer IP addresses be needed to keep up as the internet expands into new devices?
New technology can redirect the internet traffic of 16m devices through a single IP address.
Chances are, your home router and mobile phone provider are already doing this.
The future could allow all kinds of home devices access to the internet including cat flaps.
This reminds us of how many devices are probably using the internet at any givenmoment.
