Companies are already converting to IPv6. More and more enterprise level apps already support them. The switch is not really as difficult as the article lays it out to be, since apps can be IPv6 'aware' without having to completely recode

Glen , Denver, CO, USA

long ago phone numbers were 4 digits long, and when the ran out did phones dry up and go away,... no
they added more digits, and more phones. IPv6 is doing just that, instead of 4 octets of numbers in a standard IP (aka IPv4) you will now have 6 octets IPv6, and many more IPdevices

will, reno, usa

As a Yank who has great respect for the Magna Carta, Common Law, Shakespeare, the British "stiff upper lip" and Churchillian resolve, I am amazed at what politically-correct alarmist weenies you seem to have become. It appears that you have conflated Malthus and techno-babble. Twaddle I say, Twaddle

Steven Gomprecht, Lodi, NY , USA

Don't worry Global Warming will have killed us before the number of internet addresses runs out.
Got to hand it to the Brittish press another day another catastrophy is looming. Maybe Brittain should be renamed to the Peoples Politically Correct, Global Warming Republic of Chicken Little.

Phil McCrakin, New York, USA

IPV6 has been around for a several years. No, there will be no end to the Internet! And Al Gore did NOT invent the Internet. After it was running between some universities and gov. labs (it was a defense dept. system), Al Gore and other politicians voted for the U.S. gov. (NSF) to fund it. Got that?

Prof. Carl Looney, Reno, USA

I may not be THE sharpest knife in the drawer, but I think I have enough understanding about words to know the difference between something coming to an end and there being no room for more. This person is nothing but a fear mongerer. I am sure it was Al Gore who invented the IPv6. He's the man!

Randy, Palm Coast, FL, USA

Cisco routers, Windows, UNIX, etc have has IPv6 functionality for many years. The only show stoppers I see are with my little Linksys,6 to 4 gateways, and for networks to adopt it.

If Cox Cable wants to assign me a IPv6, I'm happy to help. They haven't.

B R S, Phoenix, USA

Where is Al Gore when we need him!!!!

Ron, Sierra Vista,

I believe we have to look onto use the unique, extra-huge domains' name to expand more capacity and get to the strict policies for registrating new domains..... And secondly, We explore more and more Free-Web Domain Developing to load more over the singal Domain I.e: geocities.com and etc.

Mirza Adeel Sami, Rabwah, Pakistan

Let's tell them the Internet is going to end so we can create a whole new one and everyone will have to come to us if they want to be on the Internet.

It amazes me that you cna get away with this stuff this day and age.

This is an attempt to tap into the vast revenues on the Internet, hijack

Larry, Las Vegas, USA

There are certainly some issues with legacy network equipment. But it is correct that the solution is in place.

Dominic Melfi, Racine, Wi, USA

Okay, Let me get this. The solution for peak oil is to use less , but the solution for ip addresses is a solution that increases ip addresses, increasing supply to meet demand. The solution for oil is increase supply, and alternatives, like nuclear power (electricity for your precious computers).

Mark Harritt, Sierra Vista, AZ, USA

Wow an article about the Internet that shows complete ignorance and a false alarmist.

Yes it will be a bit of a pain for everyone to move to IPV6 but hardly a doomsday. It won't even be all that expensive as it has already been pointed out most everything supports IPV6.

J Kinsley, York, US

IPv4=on the way out
IPv6=128-bit addressing scheme possible of supporting roughly 3.4x10^38 unique addresses. So no, as the journalist put it, the internet is not on the way out. For more information, check out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPv6
or
http://www.ipv6.org/
Thank You.

Gil Nims, Aurora, USA

This is as about as much of an issue as the Y2K bug. Yes, had nothing been done to ameliorate the situation, Y2K would indeed have been a problem. But the necessary work was done, and Y2K was a damp squib. Most modern IP stacks support IPv6 transparently. Much ado about nothing.

David Gillies, San Jose, Costa Rica

Yes phil, and I don't know why.

Ray Belanger, Las Vegas,Nv., USA

What evidence do you cite to uphold your statement of:
"As addresses run dry we will all feel the pinch: internet speeds will drop and new connections and services (such as internet phone calling) will either be expensive or simply impossible to obtain" ?

How would this affect speed?

Derryl, Pacific Palisades, CA, USA

This will get have as much effect on the world as the Y2K issue.

In the end, very little. Yet for the next 3 yrs, we'll hear nothing but our impending technological doom. Does anyone truly think that companies & governments that literally *depend* on the internet are going to lazily let it crumble?

thorn, Cincinnati,

Here's an idea: Use the money that Al Gore, et al, plan to make buying and selling "carbon offsets", which, by the way do nothing to solve any environmental problems either real or imaginary, to upgrade the internet and we'll still have billions left over to solve other problems facing mankind.

Glenn, Atlanta, GA, USA

How wonderful. I was told several times in the 1990's I would never survive in the 21st. century without the internet. Now it looks like it is the internet that is the one that wont survive the 21st. century. Go figure.

Dennis Mundorf, Clarkrange, TN

Isn't it absolutely amazing ! Are there people who make lists of every disaster which could befall humanity and when news gets a bit slack, pores over the list to find one which hasn't been revealed before. ? Its a hard life for journalists searching for new disasters to frighten the peasants

Phil de Buquet, newport,