Resource distribution
Autonomous System numbers
It is predicted that the global pool of unallocated two-byte AS numbers will exhaust in April 2011. To address the shortage of two-byte AS numbers, the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) developed a new four-byte version and ensured full backwards compatibility. The Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) began assigning these four-byte AS numbers on 1 January 2007 to networks that specifically requested them. However, from 1 January 2009, the RIRs will assign four-byte AS numbers by default to networks requesting AS numbers. It is inevitable that, sooner rather than later, two-byte AS numbers will be unavailable.
To track the consumption of two-byte AS numbers and monitor the deployment of the newer four-byte AS numbers, APNICs Chief Scientist, Geoff Huston, has been analysing global AS number statistics.
Transition to IPv6
The reports below analyse global IPv6 allocation rates and the number of IPv6 routes being announced to the global Internet.
| IPv6 BGP Table Reports | Regularly updated summaries of global IPv6 address visibility from the Default Free Zone (DFZ) view of BGP. |
| IPv6/IPv4 Comparative Report | First and second order derivative relationships between IPv4 and IPv6 highlighting their relative uptake and dissemination. |
| IPv6 CIDR Reports | Regularly updated reports on the prefix aggregation efficiency of observed routing behaviour as it relates to allocations and assignments. |
| IPv6 – Address Allocation data by ISO-3166 code | An analysis of global IPv6 allocations compared to populations of each economy derived from RIR data regarding the economy of registration of address registrations. |
| IPv4 – Address Allocation data by ISO-3166 code | An analysis of global IPv4 allocations compared to populations of each economy. |