With the lingering IPv4 address shortage, providers are trying to find viable solutions to tackle the problem. If you’re one of these providers, there are several factors that you need to be aware of that can affect your ability to get the IP addresses when you need them the most.

Supply Chain Crisis

We all know that just about everyone in the world is experiencing supply chain issues, and with these issues come delayed delivery times for Carrier Grade NAT equipment. CGNAT equipment is the best solution to conserve your current allotment of IPv4 addresses until as you  transition to IPv6. If CGNAT is not high on your list, it should be, and now is the time to get an order in.

Price Increases

Anytime there is a demand for something a price hike typically follows, and IPv4 prices are no exception. Since 2019 prices have increased by almost 200%, with each IP address costing around $50. If you do the math, that’s over $12,000 for a single Class C, so buying more IPv4 addresses is not a viable long-term solution. And, prices are continuing to rise. IPv4 content on the Internet is not going away any time soon, so you will need an IPv4 address for each of your subscribers to continue to reach IPv4 content on the Internet for many years to come. With CGNAT, many subscribers can share a single address (64:1 or higher). 

Growing Demand

Efforts have been ramped up to close the digital divide, which will bring in millions of new subscribers and increase the demand for IP addresses even more. Broadband funding is currently being allocated from several Federal and State programs, soon to be followed by over $42 billion slated for broadband from the recently passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. These factors will drive up the price of IPv4 addresses even higher, while increasing demand for CGNAT.

If you haven’t considered your options or are unsure of where to start, ZCorum has several CGNAT solutions that can support a range of operators from the smallest to the largest. With our Carrier Grade NAT solution you could support 10,000 new subscribers with a single Class C address block (254 addresses). 

Check out this IPv4 eBook resource and contact us to get started.