China running out of IP addresses

Chinese officials are calling for a mass migration to IPv6 after disclosing that they have only 830 days' worth of IPv4 resources left.

The disclosure was made by Li Kai, director of IP of the China Internet Network Information Center.

Li explained at a conference that, without a rapid changeover to IPv6, internet users in China will start having problems getting online.

"We held seminars almost everywhere to tell operators to apply for the remaining IP addresses as soon as possible, and to prepare the new IP addresses from IPv6 for internet users," he said, according to state media.

Around 80 per cent of China's IPv4 resources have now been taken up. The country's IP allocation recently exceeded Japan's, making it the second largest in the world behind the US.

View: Full story @ vnunet