So, here we are at the end of 2013 and let’s see where we are.  So far, APNIC and RIPE have ‘run out’, and the next two registries likely to be depleted in the next year or two are ARIN and LACNIC.  Until recently, it was likely that ARIN would run out first, and then ARIN and LACNIC were pretty much neck-and-neck for a while, but in recent months the demand for IPv4 in the LACNIC region has been accelerating quite a lot, and we’re now at the point (as of today) that LACNIC are now depleting their resources quite a bit faster than ARIN are.  Geoff Huston has the figures as of this morning at 1.5 /8s for ARIN and 1.3317 /8s for LACNIC, a difference of approximately 6 weeks.  If LACNIC continue this rate of depletion I suspect they will be down to the final /10 (as ARIN and LACNIC have different rules to RIPE, who reserved a whole /8) a fair bit sooner than the beginning of 2015.  As to why LACNIC has shown such a spurt in recent weeks, that’s anyone’s guess, but the next few months could be very interesting if current trends continue.  Just as well Comcast in the US is well on the way to rolling out IPv6 to 100% of their customer base then!

Happy new year!