The Latin America and the Caribbean region have entered the
IPv4 exhaustion phase, just as the slow in deploying Internet Protocol version
Six (IPv6) in the region has become a cause for concern, reports ITRealms.
The Internet Address Registry for Latin America and the
Caribbean (LACNIC), the organization responsible for assigning Internet
resources in the region, announced the exhaustion of its IPv4 address pool and
expressed its concern regarding the fact that operators and governments
throughout the region are delaying the deployment of Internet Protocol version
6 (IPv6).
ITRealms reports
that LACNIC disclosed that its pool of available IPv4 addresses reached the
4.194.302 mark, which triggered stricter Internet resource assignment policies
for the continent.
In practice, ITRealms
gathered, this means that IPv4 addresses are now exhausted for Latin American
and Caribbean operators.
"This is an historic event; the fact that it was
anticipated and announced doesn't make it any less significant," said Raúl
Echeberría, LACNIC's CEO, stressing that from now on, LACNIC and its National
Registries will only be able to assign very small numbers of IPv4 addresses,
and these will not be enough to satisfy the region's needs.
Since it began operating in 2002, ITRealms reports that the organization
has assigned more than 182 million IPv4 addresses throughout Latin America and
the Caribbean.
As agreed by the regional community, now that only 4,194,302
available IPv4 addresses (/10) remain, LACNIC's pool of IPv4 addresses is
considered officially exhausted and the Gradual Exhaustion and New Entrants
policies have come into effect, introducing new procedures and requirements for
those requesting resources.
The policy on Transfers of IPv4 Blocks within the LACNIC
Region, which allows and governs the transfer of resources among different
organizations within the region, is now also in effect.
"Today, the need to deploy IPv6 is now more pressing
than ever. It cannot be delayed any longer if connectivity providers still wish
to meet the demands of their customers and those of new users. LACNIC and the
Internet community have been working for years in preparation for this very
moment," said Echeberría.
Accordingly, ITRealms
gathered some 67 per cent of LACNIC member organizations have already been
assigned IPv6 addresses by LACNIC and National Registries, NIC.br and NIC.MX.
LACNIC's CEO, however, expressed his concern that "10
years after LACNIC and National Registries, NIC.br and NIC.MX. began promoting IPv6 deployment, many
operators and companies still haven't taken the steps needed to duly address
this circumstance."
2,097,150 of the remaining 4,194,302 addresses may be assigned
during this phase, in blocks of limited sizes (assignments) comprising between
256 and 1,024 IP addresses. Likewise, an organization may only request
additional resources six months after receiving a prior assignment. Once these
2 million IPv4 addresses are exhausted, LACNIC members will no longer be able
to receive any IPv4 assignments.
At that point, the reserve for new members (/11) will be
activated, thus triggering Phase 3 of the IPv4 exhaustion plan designed by
LACNIC and the National Registries. According to the policies in force, during
this final phase only new members will be able to request IPv4 addresses, which
will be assigned in blocks of between 256 (/24) and 1,024 (/22) addresses. Each
new member will only be able to receive one assignment from this space.
