The last blocks of IPv4 addresses started to be dished out last week, according to Ripe NCC, the coordination center that allocates addresses to European and Middle Eastern Internet Service Providers.

It said it is now distributing addresses from the last /8 allocated to Ripe by IANA for the service region.

The /8 batch is equal to 16.8m IPv4 addresses.

These were provide3d to Ripe and five other centers in equal batches to distribute on 3 February this year.

It said all remaining requests for IPv4 addresses have been frozen, as of September 14.

It said those requests for IPv4 that will be met, only in batches of /22, must already have an allocation for IPv6, the next version of the internet address system.

It said the drying up of the IPv4 reserves proves that “it is now imperative to deploy IPv6 to safeguard the future growth of your network”.

The new version of the internet – Ipv6 – is already in use by some large internet companies, including Facebook, Google and Yahoo!.

IPv6 offers infinitely more addresses than IPv4, which is fast running dry around the world.

IPv6 is a different format for Internet packets, providing 128 bits of address space instead of 32 bits comprising an IPv4 address. This is the difference that expands the number of possible addresses to 3.4 x 10³Ôü©, or 340 trillion-trillion-trillion addresses