The Number Resource Organization (NRO), which is made up of the five Regional Internet Registries (RIRs), has revealed that the rate of new entrants into the IPv6 routing system has increased by approximately 300% over the past two years.

The news is important because IPv4 addresses, which are assigned to your computer each time you go online (e.g. 123.23.56.98); not unlike a phone number, are running out. IPv6 (e.g. 2ffe:1800:3525:3:200:f8ff:fe21:67cf) was invented as a longer and more secure replacement:


Still, with some predictions suggesting that IPv4 addresses could run out entirely by 2011, IPv6 may need to grow even faster if it is to prevent a serious performance problem from occurring.