The Internet has been around for a long time, though Star Trek may pre-date it by a few years.
The basis for what we know as the “Internet” started back in the 1970′s with the development of the communication protocols that computers use to talk to each other over networks. These protocols were eventually enshrined in the standards that we know today allow the modern Internet to operate.
To allow computers to communicate each machine has to have a unique address. When then original standards were designed it was decided that these addresses would be 32 digits long and this would give a total of 4,294,967,296 available addresses. That’s 4 billion! It seems a lot doesn’t it?
The only trouble is we’re about to run out!
The global organization that allocates IP addresses, IANA, has 5 blocks of addresses left and these will be allocated shortly. This pool of IP addresses is expected to be exhausted by September this year.
So what happens then? No more Internet?
Fortunately a new addressing scheme has been under development for some time; IPv6. This will support 2128
addresses. That’s a lot of addresses!
So what does it mean for us, the everyday Internet users? Modern equipment comes IPv6 ready so if you’re PC is relatively recent then you’re probably OK. However changes are also required out there on the Internet itself. There’s a big test day coming up on the 8th June this year where several of the major global players on the Internet (for example Google and Yahoo) will offer IPv6 Internet sites to test the Internet’s readiness for IPv6. You can also test your own readiness for IPv6.
So are you ready for IPv6? Let us know how you get on – does everything work for you on June 8th? Let us know how you get on.
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Google Adwords – Just Add Pictures!
In a program that has been in beta for 12 months Google are starting to roll out graphics with the AdWords advertising.
Whilst you might think this will clutter up Google’s otherwise minimalist layout the research from the beta program has shown that searchers are twice as likely to click through on an ad . . . → Read More: Google Adwords – Just Add Pictures!