Microsoft has offered to pay $7.5m (£4.7m) for 666,624 IP version 4 (IPv4) net addresses from bankrupt telecoms firm Nortel.The blocks of IPv4 are valuable at the moment because the pool of addresses is close to running dry and some companies are therefore facing a costly migration to the newer IPv6.
The suggested deal is yet to be approved, and anyone who objects to it can file their comments before 4 April. However, Microsoft's bid was the highest of the 80 firms asked if they wanted to make an offer for the IP addresses.
If it goes through, Microsoft will get hold of 470,016 of the IP addresses instantly and the remaining 196,608 will be released as former customers of Nortel are moved to other telecoms firms.
