Computer Science: An Overview: Global Edition (12th Edition)

Published by Pearson Higher Education
ISBN 10: 1292061162
ISBN 13: 978-1-29206-116-0

Chapter 4 - Networking and the Internet - Chapter Review Problems - Page 211: 13

Answer

Yes, IPv6 addressing is more than adequate for the foreseeable future.

Work Step by Step

IPv4: 32-bit addresses → $2^{32}\approx 4.43\times 10^{9}$ addresses. This is insufficient because the world population already exceeds 8 billion devices, and many devices need multiple addresses. IPv6: 128-bit addresses → $2^{128}\approx 3.4\times 10^{38}$ addresses. As the world population is $\approx 8\times 10^9$, each person could have $\frac{3.4\times 10^{38}}{8\times 10^9}\approx 4.25\times 10^{28}$ unique addresses, which is astronomically more than needed for every person to have billions of devices. Therefore the sheer size of the IPv6 address space makes it virtually impossible to run out of addresses. Even accounting for future growth of devices, IoT, and network infrastructure, IPv6 provides a practically inexhaustible pool of addresses.
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