Responding to the Crisis

By 1992, the Internet was growing at rates that were straining it, its address space, and its physical and logical support infrastructures. Concern was running high among the techies behind the scenes at the IETF, but nobody else really seemed to grasp the problem. In November 1992, RFC 1380 was released. This RFC was strictly informational in nature, but it caused a sensation the likes of which the network engineering community has seldom experienced!

Certain parties within the IETF had already calculated the projected date by which the remaining supply of Class B address spaces would be exhausted. After that point, the other address classes would also come under increased pressure, and the failure would increase exponentially. ...

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