Invincible Internet: The Evolution of Internet Protocol Addressing

 The internet evolved out of a defense department research project in the 1970s designed to create a communications system that could survive a nuclear attack. Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn did not originally intend for the internet to evolve into an inescapable force that would reshape life as we knew it. Programmers often repackage and redesign old code to fit a new project plan. 

 

The first 3 numbers of an IPv4 address reveal the class of an IP address. IPv4 addresses organize into 5 classes. The majority of IPv4 addresses used on home systems are from class C. We know that all of the IPv4 classes are not really assigned simply by looking at class A. All of the addresses in class A begin with a 0 - 127. In binary format, class A encompasses all of the addresses that begin with a 0. All other addresses begin with a 1. Therefore, half of the addresses (around 17 million IP addresses) belong to class A. IANA owns over half of Class A addresses. A short list of major companies, such as, HP, Apple, Ford, IBM and the UPS own the class A addresses. Therefore, we know that half of the IPv4 addresses at 17 million were not assigned to individual users but instead purchased in blocks. Similarly classes D and E are used for research and classified projects for the CIA.

 

While the internet began in a different project scope, programmers proved able to remain agile. An ability to remain proactive quickly nipped the issue of limited IP addresses. Subnetting and the creation of IPv6 pushed the limits and changed the boundaries of the future. A subnet allows multiple devices in the same local network to connect to the internet under a single public IP address. Each individual public IP address has the potential to connect millions of devices. 

 

As the internet expanded, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) recognized a need to update the internet protocol to identify devices across the internet. In 1998, the IETF created IPv6 which offers 340 trillion trillion IP addresses, a substantial upgrade from the 4 billion offered by IPv4. Networkworld.com identifies the IPv6 transfer rates: “As of March 2022, according to GoogleLinks to an external site., the IPv6 adoption rate globally is around 34%, but in the U.S. it’s at about 46%.” This suggests that despite the creation of IPv6 over a decade ago, the majority of the world continues to depend on IPv4. 

 

While IPv6 contains the capacity to handle all of the internet of things we see in the future, even 20 years later we have not fully implemented it as subnetting transformed our need to. In my opinion, programmers rarely remain static and technology will evolve past a need for IPv4 or IPv6; however, a globe covered entirely in nothing but computers could still be managed with IPv6. AWS already provides the ability to access the internet without an IP address. 

 

The Wall Street Journal predicts the future of the internet: “The cybersphere of the future will resemble an electric power network, with information thundering through at tremendous volume and speed. Computers will become “step-down transformers” to convert high-voltage information from the Internet into a useful, lower-voltage form. Flowing information will power your life.” This suggests that the future of the internet may someday evolve into new technologies yet unknown to man.

 

References


Fruhlinger, J. (2022, March 21). What is IPv6, and why is adoption taking so long? Network World. Retrieved October 27, 2022, from https://www.networkworld.com/article/3254575/what-is-ipv6-and-why-aren-t-we-there-yet.html#:~:text=Fortunately%2C%20the%20Internet%20Engineering%20Task,2%20to%20the%20128th%20power).

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