
Chapter 2 • What’s Wrong with IPv4? 33
addresses; by January 2001, the average had dropped to
115,800. Increasingly detailed routing data is being pumped
into the global routing domain, in part due to an increase in
complexity resulting from decreased reliance on hierarchical
routing and increased use of multi-homing (linking to multiple
networks).
• Prefix length distribution is increasing. The prefix length is a func-
tion of the specificity of the network address; a /24 (24-bit)
prefix is far more specific than a /8 (8-bit) prefix. Huston reports
significant increases in the number of routes with a prefix length
of /24 or more over recent years. This ties