互聯網IP地址即將用盡
The Internet is running out of addresses.
With everything from smartphones to Internet-linked appliances and cars getting online, the group entrusted with organizing the Web is running out of the "IP" numbers that identify destinations for digital traffic.
The touted solution to the problem is a switch to a standard called IPv6 that allows trillions of Internet addresses, while the current IPv4 standard provides a meager four billion or so.
ICANN has been calling for a change to IPv6 for years but websites and Internet service providers have been clinging to the old standard since the birth of the Internet.
"One of the reasons it has taken so long to change is that there is no obvious advantage or killer application for IPv6," Colitti said.
The number of addresses that IPv6 allows for amounts to 340 "undecillion" (followed by 36 zeroes); enough for a trillion people to each be assigned trillions of IP numbers, according to ICANN chief Rod Beckstrom.
With about seven billion people on the planet, the IPv4 protocol doesn't allow for everyone to have a gadget with its own online address.
The situation has been equated to not having enough telephone numbers for everyone.
Once the supply of IPv4 addresses ICANN distributes to the five regional centers around the world are gone, computers and other gadgets might have to start sharing instead of having unique identifying numbers.
"You will start to share with your neighbors, and that causes problems because applications can't distinguish you apart," Colitti said. "If your neighbor ends up in a blacklist, you will too."
World IPv6 Day will start at 0001 GMT on June 8.
In a worst case scenario, running out of IPv4 addresses with no switch to IPv6 would mean new gadgets wouldn't be able to connect to the Internet because addresses weren't available, according to ICANN.
全球互聯網IP地址即將用盡。
受託管理互聯網的機構表示，隨着智能手機、聯網電器，甚至聯網汽車的出現，用來識別數字通信目的地的全球IP地址即將用盡。
針對這一棘手問題，最受青睞的一種解決方案是從目前的互聯網通信協議“IPv4”轉換到“IPv6”。IPv6可以提供數萬億個網絡通信地址，而IPv4提供的地址大概只有40億個，相比之下少得可憐。
國際互聯網名稱和編號分配公司(ICANN)早在幾年前就開始呼籲轉換到IPv6，但自從互聯網出現以來，網站和互聯網服務提供商一直不肯放棄IPv4。
工程師考萊迪說：“轉換到IPv6耗時多年的原因之一是IPv6沒有明顯優勢，或者殺手級應用軟件。”
ICANN主席羅德•貝克斯托姆表示，IPv6可以提供海量的IP地址，確切地說，是340後面36個零，足夠給1萬億人每人分配數萬億個IP地址。
而目前地球人口總計70萬，IPv4協議還不夠每人擁有一臺配備獨立網址的網絡設備。
這就好比不能保證每個人擁有獨立的電話號碼。
一旦ICANN向全球五個地區中心分配的IPv4地址用光，電腦和其它網絡設備也許不得不開始共享IP地址，而不是各自擁有獨立IP地址。
考萊迪說：“你要開始和鄰居共享IP，這會帶來很多麻煩，因爲軟件無法區分開你們倆。一旦你的鄰居被拉進黑名單，你也無法倖免。”
IPv6協議將從格林尼治時間6月8日起在全球使用。
ICANN稱，如果出現最壞情況，IPv4地址用盡，但還沒來得及轉換到IPv6地址，那麼新的網絡設備就無法聯網，因爲已經沒有IP地址可用了。
Vocabulary:
tout: to describe or advertise boastfully; publicize or promote（極力讚揚，吹捧）
meager: deficient in quantity or quality; lacking fullness or richness; scanty; inadequate（不足的，貧乏的）
killer application: any computer program that is so useful or great that people feel they must have it（殺手級應用，一種極爲暢銷，能促使人們購買或使用其操作系統等的計算機程序）
undecillion: a cardinal number represented in the U.S. by 1 followed by 36 zeros, and in Great Britain by 1 followed by 66 zeros.（後面有36個零之數<的>，decillion指千的11乘方）
GMT: 格林尼治標準時間，Greenwich Mean Time的縮寫
