IPv4 uses 32 BITS to address COMPUTERS on the Internet. That means it can support 2^32 IP addresses in total -- around 4.29 billion. In the 1980’s a 4 billion computers on the Internet seemed like impossibility. Surprisingly, almost all 4.29 billion IP addresses have now been assigned to various institutions, leading to the crisis we face today. We have not totally run out of these addresses but with the growing POPULATION and the ever INCREASING number of DEVICES that connect to the Internet, the day when we shall completely exhaust these addresses is very near. Hence the need to shift to a system that offers a larger addresses space.

IPv4 uses 32 bits to address computers on the Internet. That means it can support 2^32 IP addresses in total -- around 4.29 billion. In the 1980’s a 4 billion computers on the Internet seemed like impossibility. Surprisingly, almost all 4.29 billion IP addresses have now been assigned to various institutions, leading to the crisis we face today. We have not totally run out of these addresses but with the growing population and the ever increasing number of devices that connect to the Internet, the day when we shall completely exhaust these addresses is very near. Hence the need to shift to a system that offers a larger addresses space.