The Next Revolution: What Happens When the Internet Runs Out of Space?

In July 2011, the unthinkable will happen – the worldwide web will start to run out of room. Plans are underway for the move to a new system, known as IPv6, that will not only hugely increase capacity – to an amazing 340 billion billion billion Internet Protocol (IP) addresses – but enable a multitude of objects to communicate via the net. This promises to be a boon to business, offering limitless opportunities for visionary entrepreneurs and smart managers. But first, they must switch systems and for some organisations it will be complicated. IT giant Microsoft has pre-empted potential difficulties by buying up a swag of old IP addresses. So how can other businesses prepare for the next brave new Internet world?