There are 1.6 billion Internet users around the globe, and Internet addresses (known as IP addresses or numbers that computers use to connect to the Internet) are running out swiftly as more and more people and devices get online. The current address base, IPv4, only allows for about four billion addresses (a large number, but not enough for Earth's more than six billion people!). IPv6 provides enough address space to assign almost three billion networks to every person on the planet.
Vint's advice to New Zealand's tech industry: get started now with IPv6 adoption. IPv6 was first developed in 1996 but adoption is still quite low. Businesses need to plan ahead to avoid "engineering in a crisis."
During his visit, Vint also delivered the keynote address at the Internet Industry Awards, hosted in Wellington by the Liz Dengate Thrush Foundation. This was the first year for the awards to acknowledge and encourage Kiwi entrepreneurship in IT.
Vint Cerf with Peter Dengate Thrush, the current chair of ICANN,at the Internet Industry Awards dinner on August 20, 2009.
And of course, Vint also spent some time in New Zealand discussing the future of the Internet and what we can expect as more people and devices connect to the Web. Check out this article in The Sunday Star Times and this interview on RadioNZ to catch some of what he said.
Deborah Singer, Google Communications
