At some point in 2011 the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) will run out of unique numbers to give to each Web site and will be replacing them with numbers in the new protocol, IPv6; companies that do not prepare themselves for the change may find their public-facing sites malfunctioning. Computers will no longer connect directly with an IPv4 Web site and will instead go through a gateway provided by their ISP unless a company reconfigures its Web server to connect directly to IPv6.
For the more complex e-commerce or customer-care sites, an ISP-provided gateway is not likely to work as well as a direct connection, and can result in customers having to log in several times, poor video quality, loss of data about customer visits, and other problems. Reconfiguring for IPv6 will not in itself require a lot of labor but will require much coordination with partners to make sure the Web site's applications work with IPv6, and old firewalls may need to be replaced.
The process could take months for large companies with complicated Web sites, and while there is no specific date when the numbers will run out, it will certainly happen next year. "You can either do a planned, careful migration, or you can do it in a panic," says Martin Levy, director of IPv6 strategy for Hurricane Electric. "And you should know full well that panicking is more expensive."
Sic semper tyrannis
~War is Peace~Freedom is Slavery~Ignorance is Strength~ George Orwell "1984"
