What Is Reserved Address Space?

Everyone who's somebody hangs around in the reserved address space because it's the place to be. It's a little known fact that while the rest of us are stuck trying to find an IP address that works, these guys are sitting at their desks in their free-flowing robes and flip-flops, sipping smoothies, and playing video games on their smartphones while they wait for their next big idea to come to them. While the rest of us are stuck trying to find an IP address that works, these guys are having fun. The term "reserved address space" refers to the collection of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses set aside and organized so that they can only be used for purposes associated with intranets and other private networks. Experimentation and internal usage are the two purposes for which this portion of the IP address scheme and classes have been set aside by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the Internet Address and Naming Authority (IANA). This ensures that these addresses remain unused on the public internet, avoiding conflict with any existing addresses used by other businesses or organizations. When attempting to access websites or other network resources over public networks such as Wi-Fi hotspots or cellular data networks, this eliminates any potential for misunderstanding that may arise. Suppose there was no way to reserve these addresses. In that case, they could be used by someone else who does not have permission from the original owner (or, even worse, someone maliciously attempting to take over someone else's website). If there was no way to reserve these addresses, then they could be used by someone else. The vast majority of this reserved space is now unallocated since very few people use it. Still, there will surely come a day when we require more than 4 billion IP addresses available for usage only on our planet!