What enterprise IT needs to do about IP address depletion

For those of you who don’t already know, as of February 1, 2011, there are no more IPv4 addresses left for the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) to allocate. Is this another Y2K? Must enterprises devote all of their resources to begin an IPv6 migration?

“Let’s step back and take a deep breath. Yes, it’s true that the available IANA address blocks are gone. But an IPv4 depletion from the IANA doesn’t mean we’re out of available IPv4 address space just yet…. And there are other possibilities to extend the IPv4 lifespan,” says Nemertes Research vice president Irwin Lazar.

However, this doesn’t mean that enterprise IT can sit back and ignore the inevitable. The IANA’s IPv4 depletion should be a wake-up call for organizations. Lazar explains that now is the time to plan an IPv6 migration strategy and overcome the five common pitfalls associated with IPv6 transitioning. Learn the least you should do in his IPv6 reality check article series:

• What the IANA’s IPv4 depletion means for enterprises
• IPv6 migration strategy: The very least enterprises should do
• Five steps for overcoming IPv6 planning pitfalls