The Internet on Thursday officially ran out of the numerical addresses that act as "phone numbers" to ensure that surfers reach websites and e-mails find their destination.
Blame surging Web traffic in Asia and the worldwide proliferation of smartphones.
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, the top-level administrator of the system, distributed its last batches of Internet Protocol, or IP, addresses Thursday to regional registries, which will make them available to service providers, websites and others. That supply should run out in six or nine months, said John Curran, CEO of the American Registry for Internet Numbers, or ARIN, the regional group covering the United States, Canada and the Caribbean.
Websites and service providers have been experimenting with a new technology that allows for many more addresses - an infinite number, for all practical purposes. But many have been slow to do so because of a lack of immediate benefits. The exhaustion of IP addresses at the top level puts pressure on them to move more quickly.
The new system is called Internet Protocol version 6, or IPv6. Curran said only about 2 percent of websites support it. However, many of those are the most-visited sites on the Internet, including Google and Facebook. He expects smaller sites to scramble for IPv6 addresses now.
As Internet service providers run out of the current generation of IP addresses, they'll have to give users IPv6 addresses. The transition could cause problems reaching some websites or slow surfing.
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