No one can deny the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) will soon exhaust its available supply of IPv4 addresses, but what many people are speculating about is exactly when this will occur.
In the ARIN region, a four-phase countdown plan describes how ARIN would distribute its remaining IPv4 address blocks. ARIN is now in the fourth and final phase of that countdown plan.
As of today, ARIN’s IPv4 inventory stands at .28 of a /8. You can check daily how much space ARIN has left in its available pool with ARIN’s neat IPv4 inventory counter displayed on ARIN’s homepage (see it on the bottom right). The counter shows the total number of /8 equivalents remaining in ARIN’s available IPv4 inventory as well as a list of the total number of prefixes available of any given size. “Available space” includes current IPv4 inventory minus any returned, reclaimed, or revoked address blocks that may be in a hold status.
Some more great statistics on 2015 requests for IPv4 address space and 2015 IPv4 delegations issued are available here.
But the question remains: when will ARIN run out?
At APRICOT 2015, APNIC Director General, Paul Wilson, filmed a video with his prediction and with excellent commentary about the implications and issues surrounding IPv4 exhaustion.
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