To fill the gap in market demand for the Internet and to keep up with the rapidly increasing demand for IP resources, IP leasing has been suggested to be the bona fide solution needed to sustain the integrity of the network and prepare it for future technology development.
Vincentas Grinius, the Chief Executive Officer of Heficed, which provides full-range services for IP lease, monetization, and management services, put up this argument, stating that the internet needs to adopt a new governance model.
He argued that the current internet infrastructure was never meant to withstand the onslaught of modern-day users: the 4.3 billion IPv4 addresses are simply not enough for the current population nearing 8 billion.
“Today, millions of devices are dependent on IP resource accessibility. In order to keep the network from collapsing under the sheer pressure of always-on connections, the Internet needs to adopt a new governance model that would lay a solid groundwork for further expansion,” he said.
In the early days of the internet, no one could have anticipated the unprecedented network growth that would deplete all available IPv4 resources – the idea was deemed unrealistic, considering that computers and other tech were not easily accessible for the everyday consumer. This led to IPs being rather freely shared throughout the market, and without thorough end-user tracking being done at the time, some even considered sharing IP resources a grey-area in the industry.
Now, leasing IP resources could prove to be key to suffice the needs of the exponentially growing IT market. A single household in the US alone has an average of 11 connected devices, and with further technology development and businesses scaling their operations – the network strain will only continue to increase. In order to progress alongside the growing market, the Internet needs to adopt a new governance model, based on the numerous stakeholders sharing, rather than hoarding resources upon which relies the entire network stability.
“If you think about it, the Internet was actually built on the notion of sharing available resources to support network sustainability. Let’s consider a simple example: an ISP has a fiber cable from Seattle to Chicago, however, doesn’t have one connecting New York to Chicago. The company then leases fiber lines from other providers in order to extend its infrastructure. This shows how important it is to share resources between different market players to maintain interconnectivity”, he explained further.
There is a vast amount of unused IPv4 assets that could reenter the market; often these resources are owned by corporations that neither use them for scaling their own infrastructure, nor leverage them for profit. This was the main motivator behind the development of the IP Address Market: encouraging organizations to lease their unused IPv4s, in turn leveling out the playing field for smaller players that want to enter the market.