February 14, 2017

What Happened to IPv5?

We’re aware of IPv4 and IPv6; but whatever happened to IPv5? Did it even exist? If yes, what happened to it? Why does the world seem to overlook it?

Our latest blog explores that—and more.

In the earlier days of the internet, IPv5 was named ST (Internet Stream Protocol).

ST was used by larger corporations like Apple to ensure streamlined services across a network.

It was actually really good at transferring packets of information across specific frequencies.

However, the fact that not many speak of it is because it was only created for experimental purposes, namely for audio and video conferencing.

However, the confusion still remains as the world seemingly started switching to IPv6 at the drop of a hat. This might come as shocker, but IPv5 didn’t exist. To be more specific, it wasn’t developed fully fledged in the first place. And thus, it was never adopted.

IPv5 used IPv4’s 32-bit addressing which became an important problem. The format of the IPv4 is something we have all come across (four octets with each number between 0 and 255). Sadly, we are also out of IPv4s today.

Here are a few bullet points to further help you understand IPv5:

• IPv5 used IPv4 addressing
• It gave birth to the concept of using setup channels to transmit audio or video content
• Stream Protocol (ST) messages could be contained in IPv4 and IPv6 using the same concept
• It was completely compatible with present Layer 2, i.e. ATM or Ethernet, etc.

All of this means that IPv5 was, in fact, a major piece of work. A number of different tests were conducted and implementations across several different operating systems were done. However, IPv5 never made it to the average web user.

Meet IPv6

Many of us still use IPv4 across everything from using internet on our computers to smart devices. The problem with IPv5 was that it was a combination of features that IPv4 had before, and nothing that IPv6 couldn’t support along with plenty of new add-ons. Therefore, IPv6 was introduced. The 128-bit protocol can support an endless array of IP addresses (to be specific, they can offer up to 3.4×10³⁸ addresses).

If You Are Looking For IPv4 Addresses, We Can Help

At IPv4 Mall, we are the leading choice for organizations, internet service providers and web users sell and buy IPv4 addresses. If you are looking to work your way around the infrastructure changes involved in IPv6 addresses, get in touch with us.