Microsoft buys a bunch of IP addresses

The addresses were owned by the Canadian company Nortel which has gone bankrupt. Microsoft paid 7.5 million for 666,000 addresses, that works out to about $11.25 a pop. This seems to be the first major sale of a big block of IP addresses since ICANN announced that it had run out. Microsoft is said to have outbid four other groups trying to get the addresses. What does it mean for you? Not much. At least not yet. But if tech companies are slow to upgrade from the IPv4 standard that these addresses exist on to the IPv6 standard (which, we’re told, will last us until the end of time itself) then a reselling market could take place which would drive up costs.