Snip the whole thing always brings me back to that Y2K jingle. I would disagree and here's why. *Demographics* As I write this email, the world's population according to the Population Reference Bureau is 7,087,683,026 as at 6:18am Sunday morning on 16th September, 2012. The World Mortality Report of 2011 rates (produced by the Department of Economic Social Affairs by its Population division) shows that over time the mortality rates have generally gone down although there are still wide disparities in levels of mortality across regions. See: http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/worldmortalityreport2011/World... *End Users* Whilst there are 7 billion people on the planet, the World Internet Statistics (IWS) suggest that there are 2,267,233,742 internet users as at December, 31, 2011. See: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm. These users distributed would be something like this:- AFRALO region - 6.2% APRALO region - 49% EURALO region - 22.1% LACRALO region - 10.4% NARALO region - 12% *Can current supply meet demand?* As the push for Universal Service continues to grow as we have seen from recent trends in ICT development, liberalisation of markets, competition, it is generally expected that the end users will grow. There already is a demand on Internet Address allocations based on consumption. The pull on address spaces is also linked to "consumerism". The innovations in science and technology have brought us smart phones, smart computers, smart refrigerators, smart homes, smart cars means that there is a "level of demand" coming from the globe on a "finite pool of resources". We see trends where as Innovations increase eg. Applications (App) and a single phone can have an average of 5 Apps. Internet Traffic is definitely growing because of many reasons, the desire to communicate, content driven applications being some of the reasons. Whether it is an entrepreneur away on a business trip can with a few strokes be able to check procurement of goods, what's in the cash register etc or a Surgeon performing remote tests and/or surgery, one thing is certain, consumption of the Internet will continue to grow. So the issue becomes, can "Supply meet demand"? Maybe and only for a little while. There are Network Address Translators (NATs) that can only do so much for a little while but all it is really at the end of the day is buying time and waiting for the inevitable which is the pool of IPv4 resources will run out. *The growth in global demand to communicate implies the need for transition* For as long as the assumption is true that internet usage will grow there will be a strain on the address allocation. There are variables that affect demographics droughts, tsunamis, global food crisis, water scarcity, climate change, migration, conflicts and wars that affect demographics but a steward and in this case RIPE NCC will try to ensure that there is sufficient preparation that existing resources are conserved within reason and at the same time encourage transition. The threat aside from running out of internet addresses on the IPv4 front is the ability for Networks not to be able to communicate. The IPv4 Network cannot communicate with the IPv6 and there are ways to address these where network owners can elect to opt for which ever methods of transition suits them. Fortunately, the good news is that to be able to account for the current and future demands on address space allocations, the IPv6 address allocations were designed to enable seamless communication. So the only challenge now is organising IPv4 to IPv6 transition. The key word is a transition. As for end users there are many things that we can do as ordinary end users to help prepare for the transition but that is for another time. Whilst some may say, that it's just vendors trying to sell their wares. The reality is that vendors will always try to sell their wares and you can help keep them accountable by getting your region and network providers to publish feedback on their wares See: http://labs.ripe.net/Members/mirjam/ipv6-cpe-survey-updated-january-2011/?se... Best Regards, Sala