Panic? Probably not. But perhaps this will give IPv6 a bit of a kick up the backside.
This made me think, would it be possible to trade blocks of IP addresses on the stock market? Maybe they’ll become valuable enough for that soon.
You could probably sell a large enough block of IPs to an ISP if you actually own it.
Oh, and although this is dated, it’s still interesting: http://xkcd.com/195/
[edit]: actual map coverage (for 2006) that isn’t in the form of a comic: http://www.caida.org/research/id-consumption/census-map/
[edit2]: and a 2010 IPv4 address space list: http://www.iana.org/assignments/ipv4-address-space/ipv4-address-space.xhtml
I’ll add that there is alot of public address space that is dark – I know I’m personally guilty of occupying 450 or so IP addresses more than I need generally. But its hard to get people to assign you less than a class C . . .
The usual scenario of people land-grabbing and then not using it. Why does a company like Ford need so much?
Another case of better than having and not needing it, rather than needing it and not having it?