The Register®

Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/09/18/dwp_ipv4_addresses_unused/

UK.gov squatting on £1bn IPv4 motherlode

Epetition asks DWP to flog its /8 block of internet addresses

By Brid-Aine Parnell

Posted in Hosting, 18th September 2012 15:02 GMT

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The UK's Department for Work and Pensions is sitting on up to £1bn worth of IPv4 addresses that it is not using, according to an online petition.

The epetition was sparked by a blog posting [1] from programmer John Graham-Cumming, who spotted the /8 block of addresses, over 16.8 million, was completely unused on the Autonomous System Numbers (ASN) database.

An /8 block of IPv4 addresses could be worth between $500m and $1.5bn as the space runs out of available addresses [2]. The Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre (RIPE NCC) has urged all stakeholders to deploy IPv6, the new protocol, on their networks as IPv4 reserves rapidly deplete.

The epetition claims [3] that the DWP is throwing money down the toilet by hanging onto the unused addresses.

"If they are being used for internal, private networks then this is a phenomenal waste of public funds - the block 10.0.0.0/8 is specifically earmarked for use on internal private networks, and using the globally routed 51.0.0.0/8 internally is madness," it said.

"£1 billion of low-effort extra cash would be a very nice thing to throw at our deficit."

The Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge Julian Huppert tweeted today that he had tabled a Parliamentary question to the DWP to ask about its use of the block.

An RIPE NCC infographic shows [7] that just 17.28 million, or just over one /8, IPv4 addresses remain in its available pool as of today, a small part of which is reserved for "unforeseen circumstances" and temporary assignments. ®