IPv6 spells the end of the world as we know it

Cash-strapped data service carriers must drive the change to the next version of internet protocol (IPv6) to make sure the web does not run out of addresses by 2005.

However, according to Uri Rahamim, VP of sales and marketing at Hitachi, the financial state of the majority of service providers means the market is about to become stuck in a Catch-22 situation.

Rahamim said: "Service providers need new web addresses to keep expanding their businesses but if top class addresses are nowhere to be found - there will be a problem.

"Carriers are not in a good financial position at the moment. They are in cost reduction mode, which doesn't lend itself to the development of new technologies."

To use IPv6, service carriers must upgrade their entire networks, from switches and routers to staff training.

Rahamim added: "This move is as big as that made by the mobile market from analog to digital."

He added: "The current rate of address usage highlighted by take-up over the last few years shows we will run out of IPv4 addresses by 2005. Some countries such as Korea that were only awarded a few top class addresses but are innovative in the mobile device market may run out a year before everyone else."