Problem: the Internet is running out of addresses. Clean solution: create more addresses by increasing the address length from 32 to 128 bits. Messy solution: have multiple systems share a single 32-bit address through Network Address Translation (NAT). After years of applying the messy NAT solution, it looks like we're going to run out of 32-bit IPv4 addresses within the next three years or so anyway, so those who want to connect to the Internet after 2011 or 2012 will probably have to use IPv6. But everyone else will still be on IPv4, so we need some way for IPv6 users to talk to IPv4 users. Could the much-maligned NAT be the solution?
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