Information regarding the foreseeable shortage of top-level domain names and IP addresses has Web architecture experts searching for expansion and upgrade solutions.
ICANN, the international regulatory body for Web architecture, met on December 13 in Cartagena, Colombia to talk about expanding the list of top-level domain names and a new generation of Internet protocol (IP) addresses.
“We are a thousand individuals from all over the world convening in Cartagena to adopt fundamental decisions on the biggest issues facing the Internet industry on a global scale,” said ICAAN chairman Peter Thrush.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a California-based non-profit agency, administers the Domain Name System and Internet Protocol addresses that form the technical backbone of the Web.
Every apparatus connecting to the Internet needs an IP address and Thrush said ICANN’s board assembly was to assist in preparations for the transition from IPv- (Internet Protocol version 4) to IPv6, which already exists but is seldom used.
Less than 150 million IPv4 addresses are still obtainable, and “will come to an end by mid-2011, which necessitates an urgent adoption of a new generation of the respective protocols,” Thrush said.
During its conference here, ICANN is also likely to talk about increasing the list of what are known as generic top level domains such as .com, .net and .org.
Thrush said an expansion of domain names would indicate “the beginning of a new era of change for completion of the map of the Internet.”
