Dire warnings that the internet was about to run out of addresses hit the daily headlines recently, prompted by an EU alert.

The problem is solvable, we were told, because IPv6 is on the horizon. The new standard will create extra IP addresses, improve security, efficiency and come with built-in configuration and management protocols.

It will be several years before IPv6 addresses outnumber IPv4, and European and Asia-Pacific governments have set a 2005 deadline to switch over. In the meantime, the two standards will co-exist, a feature which was always intended.

What is concerning with IPv6's stumbling start to life is that Y2K type warnings are beginning to crop up. This cannot be healthy if we want people to take it seriously. Such warnings centre largely on the need to upgrade existing kit, but with market conditions taking large chunks out of budgets, and the ability for the two to work together, few companies will have any great urge to move fast on this.

The Millennium Bug will go down as a defining moment in the history of computing. The hype surrounding it caused panic and drove predictions of destruction as utilities, emergency services and financial institutions ground to a halt, and millions of pounds were pumped into fixing the problem.

If truth be told, most of us got caught up in that hype, partly through a nagging fear our cynicism might be wrong, and partly because it was good to be at the centre of attention in the business world.

Attempting to whip up similar hysteria over the diminishing pool of internet addresses will not work. People have not forgotten Y2K, and many remain to be convinced that fixing it did not equate to pouring those millions down the drain (or rather handing over fat fees to consultants and IT suppliers).

With no finite date to hang on to, and effective ways to create workarounds that at least temporarily stave off disaster, network managers will be more sang-froid about IPv6.

The cooling of the wireless explosion will put back the urgency anyway, as company's postponing their mobile upgrades to GPRS (in turn pushing back 3G upgrades) means we will not need new IP addresses as quickly as first predicted. Hence the reason that analysts such as Giga Information Group now say that IPv6 addresses will not outnumber IPv4 until the back end of 2006 or early 2007.

The need to switch will come, so a wise decision companies can make is to think about IPv6 support as they upgrade their equipment. For many, this means the change will fall into its natural upgrade cycle.

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