IP Addresses are the most important aspect of the online space. Without IP addresses we will not have any internet, online products, and software as a service or even email. However, despite having nearly four and a half billion addresses, predications estimate that “IPv4 (the current version of IP addresses) will reach maximum capacity by September 2011,” according to Irish IPv6 Task Force chair, Mícheál Ó Foghlú.

So what’s bought this on?

There are three critical factors driving current demand for Internet addresses.

Users in developed nations employ multiple devices to access the Internet including mobile phones, laptops, desktops and servers, all of which require individual addresses; the trend is towards even more Internet-enabled devices such as TVs, game consoles and media players

Growing numbers of new users from developing nations such as China, India, and Brazil, amplified by the emphasis on mobile Internet access in many countries without good telecommunications infrastructure

The Internet of Things is increasing the pressure to provide connectivity, including smart grids for electricity, water and other utility services

What does it mean for Small Businesses?

Without IPv6 new start-up businesses wishing to offer services on the Internet will find it very difficult or prohibitively expensive to secure globally routable addresses for new services, such as eCommerce websites. Addresses may even become a black market commodity, which could be a massive hurdle for businesses and would significantly slow Internet growth.

This presents an interesting predicament for email marketers and ISPs fighting unsolicited emailing that is such a plague for mankind.

Currently most ISPs (with the exception of advanced ISPs like Yahoo and Gmail) block unacceptable/objectionable or unsolicited content based on IP addresses. With IPv6 (the next version proposed) giving over 4 billion unique IP addresses for every person on the planet, spam can no longer be fought on the basis of IP blocking. It is going to be too easy for anyone to switch IP addresses and resume sending. ISPs’ concept of spam fighting needs to be rethought.

ISPs need to deploy more advanced technologies such as heuristic and semantic scanning to understand how to deal with SPAM. Maxmail is ready to send via IPv6 but on the receiving end, 99% of the mail servers that receive and deliver these emails are not setup to do so using IPv6. We are one of the handful ESPs ready to deliver using the IPv6 IP space, but most ISPs, including Yahoo have no way to accept mails coming from an IPv6 IP address.

This is a HUGE problem and someone needs to do something about this sooner rather than later.

The biggest loser in this doomsday story is the small businesses owner that will end up paying the greatest price for this inefficiency in the global internet system. Because with this shortage of IP addresses, software as a service providers like us will have access to limited number of IP addresses, requiring us to invest more to make our technology more efficient – the cost will then have to trickle down to the end user, you, the small business owner will be the one paying the price.

Among the readers of this post, you are some of the wiser business people out there – what do you think needs to be done? Obviously everyone that needs to be aware of this problem is aware of the problem and its only fair to say that infrastructures built in the 80s that are using legacy code cannot be switched to use IPv6 at the drop of a hat. This is going to be an expensive project for any ISP.

As a small business, you can do something about it though – start talking to your ISPs and mail exchange providers to introduce IPv6 in your business. If nothing, you will spark the fire that will need to be lit in order to get these people off their back sides and onto some action.