As the Web has evolved from an experimental network into one that enjoys global and popular dominance, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) has had the job of managing its domain name system, which translates text-based email and Web addresses into numerical Internet protocol?think everything from .com and .net to .edu and .mil. Sometimes countries like China and Russia have walked out of Icann?s governmental advisory committee to protest that the body is too American, only to usually walk right back in because setting up alternative domain name systems has proved unfeasible. On its part, Icann has kept up with new global realities by measures such as introducing new top-level domains (.info and .biz, for example) as well as allowing Web addresses in non-Roman scripts like Arabic and Chinese. But the biggest problem looming over the existing system for some time now is that the 4.3 billion addresses that seemed plentiful when the Internet experiment began have been fast running out. So, the Internet must switch to a more accommodating protocol, one that will run into 340 undecillion (3.4 followed by 38 zeroes) addresses.
Major players like Facebook, Google and Microsoft (Bing) are all set to cooperate. Nobody can be sure about the problems that may appear down the road, but Websites and devices (including smart phones) of fresh lineage are not expected to have any trouble transiting from one protocol to the other. And the surging Internet population leaves Icann with little option but to encourage everyone to switch to the new, 128-bit address system.
