Speaking with The Sunday Tribune, award-winning internet pioneer Vint Cerf said the finite number of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses which the current system (IPv4) can sustain could presage an "economic trainwreck" within the next five years unless tackled now.

"I anticipate a really messy time when IP version four runs out, therefore it's imperative to move to IP version six now."

IPv4 supports 4.2bn network addresses, whereas IPv6 can support 340 trillion, trillion, trillion connections according to Cerf.

The technology sector is waking up to this issue now and experts at ICANN, one of the net's governing bodies, say the change over to the IPv6 computer language will provide myriad opportunities to the IT sector, just as the Indian software industry took advantage of the Y2K bug.

China, a relative new comer to the global internet, is acting early and the Chinese government recently pledged to upgrade the country's entire internet infrastructure ahead of the Beijing Olympics next year.

This will is seemingly lacking in the US according to Dr Xiaojun Wang, head of China Affairs in Dublin City University, as the nation which invented IPv4 . . . pioneered by Vint Cerf and colleague Bob Kahn . . . holds 1.3bn or 30% of all internet protocols so is not feeling the squeeze as much as developing countries eager to join in the global information revolution.

Theoretically, if all computers and networks are upgraded to understand IPv6, the practically limitless number of addresses available means every internet-enabled device from laptops and phones to household appliances, medical devices, digital cameras and vehicles could be linked together.

Martin Collier, senior lecturer in electronic engineering at DCU, welcomes the initiative, but has also raised some concerns.

"There are, however, privacy implications with this development. While a hospital could monitor the heart condition of patients wearing monitors, the same technology could also allow your medical insurance company to monitor your heart and could, in theory, refuse you cover if the patient were shown to be 'high risk', " said Dr Collier.

Another implication is security. Using Version 6, it would be possible for the police forces to connect to every surveillance camera in the world. However Collier argues we have already allowed webcams, camera phones and surveillance cameras to intrude on our privacy without considering the implications.

Collier said there are tremendous opportunities in this field for Irish engineers, and points to DCU's governmentfunded Research Institute for Networks and Communications Engineering (RINCE) which has attracted cooperation from Chinese experts working on the next generation internet project.