Last year, internet users experienced multiple network outages due to increased reliance on the online space. Connectivity problems are predicted to continue throughout 2022; however, employing currently dormant IP resources could help mitigate the problem.

Global internet outages have been increasing since the beginning of the pandemic. The world’s reliance on a stable internet connection will only continue to grow, which has led to gloomy predictions regarding its resiliency due to immense user traffic. However, according to Vaidotas Januška, Chief Technology Officer of IPXO, enabling inactive IPv4 addresses to re-enter the market via IP leasing could fill in the essential gaps and contribute to making connections more reliable.

Being able to lease out the necessary IPv4s enables smaller-scale industry players to provide their clients with a more stable connection to the internet, reducing the number of plausible network outages.

One of the reasons behind the emerging outages is the lack of resources of small and mid-sized Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and telcos. According to Januška, given access to more IP addresses, they could avoid expensive capital investments to grow their IP space and shift focus to scaling or upgrading infrastructure.

“Being able to lease out the necessary IPv4s enables smaller-scale industry players to provide their clients with a more stable connection to the internet, reducing the number of plausible network outages,” commented Januška. “Also, leasing could help widen a company’s regional scope and enable to service more clients. For instance, IPXO’s IP management platform enables to select IP addresses by desired geolocation, streamlining entry into new markets.”

Another obstacle that may lead to more connection errors in 2022 is that cloud providers seem to be scaling slower than the demand for their services. Januška noted how employing more IPv4s can mitigate the issue.

“Leasing IPs could enable cloud services to better optimize their current tools to serve the ever-increasing internet user traffic,” Januška explained. “It’s unlikely that the trend of remote work will end anytime soon—if ever—thus this could be a solid solution to provide clients proper bandwidth to keep up with the demand.”

The expert also noted the importance of leveraging existing solutions rather than trying to reinvent the wheel in hopes of smoother business continuity.

“Instead of making use of simple, already available solutions, companies tend to overcomplicate the process in search of novelty, which might lead to failing scenarios not happening as expected in critical situations. The same thing applies to IP shortage—while searching for tools to alleviate the issue, some forget to utilize existing solutions such as IP leasing, which could support the overburdened network,” stated Januška.

Overall, having evaluated their IPv4 needs and choosing to step into the IP leasing market can be a game-changer move for internet industry market players, especially in these challenging times; monetizing and utilizing dormant IPv4s could aid in dispelling the gloomy predictions and significantly decrease expected network outage occurrences.