While at work one day, I discovered that someone configured a 17.18.0.016 network as a private network within their topology. Curious to see what exactly they had just screwed everyone in their entire company from ever visiting, I did a whois lookup on the IP block. There, I found to my great horror that the entirety of the 17.0.0.0/8 is registered to none other than Apple Computer. Why does Apple have such a large IP block that allows for over 16 million usable host addresses?
According to the whois information, Apple registered for the block in May of 1990. This was still in the time where IANA delegated IP blocks via class (A, B, or C). Apparently, IANA was notorious for making poor decisions in those early days and all too eagerly handed out class A blocks. So, to this day, that decision carries on, but it turns out that Apple is just the beginning. Here’s a table taken from IANA:
- 3.0.0.0/8 – General Electric
- 4.0.0.0/8 & 8.0.0.0/8 – Level 3 Communications
- 9.0.0.0/8 – IBM
- 12.0.0.0/8, 32.0.0.0/8 – AT&T
- 13.0.0.0/8 – Xerox
- 15.0.0.0/8 – HP
- 16.0.0.0/8 – DEC
- 17.0.0.0/8 – Apple
- 18.0.0.0/8 – MIT
- 19.0.0.0/8 – Ford
- 20.0.0.0/8 – CSC
- 25.0.0.0/8 – UK Ministry of Defense
- 34.0.0.0/8 – Halliburton
- 35.0.0.0/8 – Merit Computer Network
- 38.0.0.0/8 – Performance Systems International
- 40.0.0.0/8 – Eli Lily & Company
- 44.0.0.0/8 - Amateur Radio Digital Communications
- 45.0.0.0/8 – Interop
- 47.0.0.0/8 – AT&T Bell Northern Labs
- 48.0.0.0/8 – Prudential Securities
- 51.0.0.0/8 – UK Government
- 52.0.0.0/8 – DuPont
- 53.0.0.0/8 – Mercedes Benz
- 54.0.0.0/8 – Merck and Co.
- 56.0.0.0/8 – US Postal Service
- 6.0.0.0/8, 11.0.0.0/8, 22.0.0.0/8, 26.0.0.0/8, 29.0.0.0/8, 30.0.0.0/8, 33.0.0.0/8, 55.0.0.0/8 - US Military et. all
From this list, I would say that AT&T and Level 3 are the only two that could strongly argue their case for such a huge amount of IP address space. The rest, at the very least can be purely for nothing more than complete wastefulness. In reality, it’s nothing more than shear idiocy and irresponsibility that they retain these IP blocks. Sure, there’s some unmistakable prestige in having a /8 IP block, but this is the same kind of prestige you would receive from driving a Rolls Royce Phantom around the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Recent articles have been stating that we could be running out of IP address in about a year or two. The sad truth of it is that even if all of the above entities gave back the space they didn’t use, we would only be delaying the enevitable. Also, if there was a clamoring for them to give up these blocks, they could just explain how difficult and costly it would be to do so. Given that it is mostly government branches or large companies with more than their foot in the door to congress, it would be very unlikely that anything will change.
So what’s the solution? Well, IPv6. . . which I’ve yet to even hear a peep from AT&T (or any service provider, or client for that matter) about. Maybe it’s just because I generally work the last mile and they perhaps are using it internally for all I know, but still. I suppose I will just keep holding my breath.
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