A resilient Asia Pacific ICT sector and high penetration rates for mobile Internet devices globally are two standout factors in IP address allocations in 2009, according to a new report. "2009 in Review - the IP Address Registry Perspective", is a new report by GeoffHuston, Chief Scientist at the Asia Pacific Network Infonnation Centre (APNIC), the IP address registry for the Asia Pacific region. According to the figures released, 2009 was a dynamic time for Internet number resources despite the global economic downturn. Key building blocks of the Internet, Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, provide an indication of Internet growth trends and network maturation within an economy.

Geoff Huston, a globally recognized expert on IP address consumption, explains that although address consumption was down 5 percent on 2008 figures, current projections that the central IANA pool of unallocated IPv4 addresses could be exhausted as early as late next year, indicate a continuing need for IPv6 deployment. Huston said that the new Internet services need IP addresses, and looking at how many addresses have been allocated and to which economy, can provide a perspective of where the Internet is growing and how quickly.

New allocations performed during 2009 represent the equivalent of approximately 5 percent of the total IPv4 address space available. In maturing markets, which already have high home broadband penetration, mobile Internet devices are still fuelling continued growth. Huston said that the USA was allocated 38 million addresses in 2009, and considering it is already well connected, with approximately 74 percent ofthe population already using Internet services, the continued consumption ofIPv4 addresses points to emerging new markets there.