(ANSI: Washington) -- The Internet as we know it is about to max out. Within the next 12 to 18 months, every one of the 4.3 billion internet protocol (IP) addresses will have been exhausted.

When the Internet was created more than 30 years ago, 4.3 billion unique addresses seemed more than enough. But what started as an “experiment” within the U.S. Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has morphed into the mega global communications network we know today.

Since 1981, Internet protocol version 4, or IP v. 4, has formed the backbone upon which the Internet is based. IP v. 4 uses 32-bit addresses to uniquely identify every computer, smart phone, or other device connected to the internet. The entities responsible for allocating IP address space are the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). IANA allocates IP addresses to five regional registries, which in turn distribute the addresses to Internet service providers. The last block of the remaining addresses was allocated to the registries earlier this month.

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