Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!unmvax!ncar!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!ucsd!nosc!logicon.arpa!Makey
From: Makey@LOGICON.ARPA (Jeff Makey)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re: Variable length addresses
Message-ID: <230@logicon.arpa>
Date: 8 Dec 88 19:21:38 GMT
References: <8812071620.AA06614@uunet.UU.NET>
Organization: Logicon, Inc., San Diego, CA
Lines: 25

In article <8812071620.AA06614@uunet.UU.NET> mo@prisma.UUCP (Mike O'Dell) writes:
>One could argue
>that 96 bits is easily enough (fixed size) since that number
>is big enough to enumerate some very sustantial fraction of all
>the subatomic particles in the known universe.

I whipped out the ol' calculator, and determined that 53 bits is more
than enough to enumerate each square foot of the Earth's surface.  How
many Earth-sized planets to we expect to populate in the future?  128
million?  Add another 27 bits for a total of 80.  Another 16 bits will
make room for 64K hosts per square foot (455 per square inch), and you
get a 96-bit internet address.

Not what I'd call a "very sustantial fraction of all the subatomic
particles in the known universe", but it sounds big enough for an
internet.  Just for safety, though, throw in an extra 32 bits for a
total of 128.  Nice, simple, fixed-length processing.  A mere 16
octets per address.  This should keep us out of trouble until at least
the year 2001.  :-)

                           :: Jeff Makey

Department of Tautological Pleonasms and Superfluous Redundancies Department
    Disclaimer: Logicon doesn't even know we're running news.
    Internet: Makey@LOGICON.ARPA    UUCP: {nosc,ucsd}!logicon.arpa!Makey