RFC 1744 (rfc1744) - Page 2 of 12

Observations on the Management of the Internet Address Space

RFC 1744          Management of Internet Address Space     December 1994


    - the finite nature of the resource

      This attribute is a consequence of the underlying technology
      which has defined addressed entities in terms of a 32 bit address
      value.  The total pool is composed of 2**32 distinct values (not
      all of which are assignable to end systems).

    - the address space has considerable market value

      This valuation is a consequence of the availability and extensive
      deployment of the underlying Internet technology that allows
      uniquely addressed entities the capability to conduct direct end-
      to-end transactions with peer entities via the Internet.  The
      parameters of this valuation are also influenced by considerations
      of efficiency of use of the allocated space, availability of end
      system based internet technologies, the availability of Internet-
      based service providers and the resultant Internet market size.

    - address space management is a necessary activity

      Management processes are requires to ensure unique allocation and
      fair access to the resource, as well as the activity of continuing
      maintenance of allocation record databases.

   Increasing rates of Internet address allocation in recent years imply
   that the IPv4 address space is now a visibly finite resource, and
   current projections, assuming a continuation of existing demand for
   addresses predict unallocated address space exhaustion in the next 6
   - 12 years (rephrasing current interim projections from the IETF
   Address Lifetime Expectancy Working Group).  There are two derivative
   questions that arise from this prediction.  Firstly what is the
   likely outcome of unallocated address space exhaustion if it does
   occur, and secondly, are there corrective processes that may be
   applied to the current address management mechanisms that could allow
   both more equitable allocation and potentially extend the lifetime of
   the unallocated address space pool.  These two issues are considered
   in the following sections.

2. Outcomes of Unallocated Address Space Exhaustion - No change in
   current Address Management Policies

   As the pool of available addresses for allocation depletes, the
   initial anticipated outcome will be the inability of the available
   address pool to service large block address allocation requests.
   Such requests have already been phrased from various utility
   operators, and the demand for very large address blocks is likely to
   be a continuing feature of address pool management.  It is noted that
   the overall majority of the allocated address space is very



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