Think Different

It has emerged that the IP addresses used in helping to distinguish one computer from another are expected to run out in approximately 500 days. The unique numbers, which are known as Internet protocol addresses, help identify the world's networked devices. An IP address uses four numbers from 0 to 255 to distinguish one computer from another. As an example, computers around the world can recognise the IP address 203.26.51.71 as a server for fairfax.com.au, which publishes this newspaper online. There are more than four billion combinations. But the proliferation of networked devices means soon that will no longer be enough. In a way, IP addresses are like phone numbers, which need to be entered correctly if a right connection is to be made. So the ability to uniquely identify everything in the computer world is essential. IP addresses are like phone numbers in another way, too. Just as Australia [ Images ] had to move from seven-digit phone numbers to eight digits in the early 199...