The Internet hit an important milestone Thursday. The group that manages the Internet's domain name system just handed out the last five blocks of addresses that use the original Internet protocol system known as IPv4.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number made clear that this news will not affect average Internet users. But it will require websites to eventually transition to the next generation Internet protocol known as IPv6.
At a news conference in Miami, ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom described the event as "one of the most important days in the Internet's history. It marks far more than a transition from one Internet address protocol to another. It marks the successful growth of the Internet."
Still, Beckstrom and other officials stressed that Internet users should not notice any difference. "This event is insignificant" for Internet users, Internet Architecture Board Chairman Olaf Kolkman said. "Next week the Internet won't be significantly different than it was a week ago."
ICANN's Internet Assigned Numbers Authority allocated the last blocks, containing about 60 million IPv4 addresses, to the five Regional Internet Registries on Thursday.
