

List of Assigned IPv4 IP Address Blocks - ry0ohki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assigned_/8_IPv4_address_blocks

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ry0ohki
I just found this super interesting that corporations (General Electric,
Apple, Merck, etc...) own entire 16 million address blocks.

Seems like we could easily reallocate half of IPv4 by getting these
corporations to sell/give up most of their blocks.

~~~
wmf
In the early days of the Internet, the idea was that you'd get one block of IP
addresses _ever_ and it would last you forever, so companies were given class
A blocks under the assumption that they would probably eventually need more
than a class B.

I suspect these companies will sell off these addresses if there are ever
enough buyers to take them. Right now I don't think there's anyone who needs
~$160M worth of addresses.

~~~
kjs3
This is basically true. I can remember in the early '80s filling out the ARIN
address block request for my then employer and thinking "I've got a couple of
hundred end points now, so I'll just ask for a Class B so I won't have to
worry about it again". They gave it to me. We never used more than 1000 IPs.
At least part of that company eventually became some sort of low-rent hosting
company, so maybe they're using more, but I doubt it.

