With IPv4 address space officially exhausted in ARIN’s region, we’ve moved into a market of IPv4 scarcity. If you want new publicly routable IPv4, you’ll have to get it from your ISP (what normally happens when you order a circuit), or from some other party willing to sell their address space to you.

To facilitate the transaction of IPv4 addresses between parties, many different IPv4 broker services have popped up. Is this a service your organization should take advantage of? Are there risks involved in IPv4 transactions like this?

John Curran, President and CEO of ARIN, joins us to help us understand the issues surrounding IPv4 broker services.

Show Notes:

– Level setting. What does it really means that ARIN is out of IPv4 address space to allocate?

* ARIN did not reserve any blocks, like some RIRs did.

* ARIN allocated the last of the IPv4 space for its region.

* This does not mean that service providers are out. In fact, this is where most end users are going to get IPv4 address space from.

– IPv6 is the future, but adoption remains slow in the United States. From ARIN’s point of view, what major obstacles remain in the way of full IPv6 adoption?

– A sort of gray market for IPv4 addresses has emerged now that all allocations are gone. In general, what is ARIN’s view of this market?

– Getting IPv4 address space from someone ARIN has allocated to isn’t as simple as buying the address block from them. ARIN is still involved. Please describe that involvement.

– Many different IPv4 brokers have sprung up to facilitate IPv4 transactions between buyers and sellers. Does ARIN govern this market or license brokers in any official capacity?

– What is ARIN’s advice to companies that are considering an IPv4 broker service?

* Things to look for in a broker

* Red flags