At least that's what a new report from the European Commission says. The Commission, one of the European Union's main branches of government, released the report, which says that an alarmingly small number of tech companies are prepared to make the switch from the Internet's old naming protocol, IPv4, to its new one, IPv6.
For perspective, a 2008 study by Google indicated that less than 1 percent of Internet hosts worldwide were prepared for the move to IPv6.
But what's so great about IPv6? It has lots and lots of space. Tech-savvy Internet users will be familiar with the standard syntax for web IP addresses: xxx.xxx.x.x/xx.
That common 6-10 digit code provides the backbone for the Internet and the foundation for the more familiar text-based addresses that reside on top of them. IPv6 offers a geometrically larger choice of IP addresses and is commonly rendered in this syntax:
xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx
The increase in digits provides web developers with billions of new addresses to choose from — enough to account for every blade of grass on the planet, based on some estimates.
And the clock is ticking. Computer engineer Sam Pickles of F5 Networks said that the Internet should exhaust its supply of IPv4-based IP addresses
"New companies looking to establish a presence on the internet will have no option but to adopt the IPv6 address format," he said. "Many government and military organisations worldwide have adopted IPv6 for their internal systems already, and its adoption by companies, and eventually home users, is virtually certain."
Pickles added that moving to IPv6-compatible servers is relatively simple.
"Some additional spending will be required to migrate to the new addressing format, and ensure that systems using the old IPv4 format can interface with new IPv6 networks," he said. "Initial installation of new equipment will most likely affect systems at the edge of the corporate network, interfacing with the internet, such as routers and firewalls."