• Unused IT addresses could raise considerable sums for Council services, cabinet to be told
• Sale of addresses – allocated at no cost to council – would have no effect on services
• Newham determined to leave no stone unturned in finding income and savings to bridge budget gap not of its own making
Unused IT assets likened to finding a ‘picture in the attic', could raise considerable sums for Newham Council if its Cabinet agrees they can go to auction at its next meeting on 5 November.
In his report, Cllr Zulfiqar Ali, Lead Member for Finance and Resources, highlights that Newham has 65,000 unused IPV4 addresses - the unique numbers that make it possible for devices and services to connect to the internet. If approved the Council will work with a specialised broker to ensure it achieves the best value for this asset, with this package of addresses having a currently estimated value of around £1.6 to £2 million.
The Council – which earlier this month outlined a package of immediate savings and income generations to deal with a budget overspend largely connected to a 26% increase of temporary accommodation in the borough – continues to investigate all measures it can take to manage its financial situation while mitigating the effect on the services to its residents.
Selling these addresses would not impact the current or future service delivery of IT to the Council.
Cllr Ali says in his report that Newham, like many other authorities is facing challenging financial pressures due to increased pressure on Temporary Accommodation as well as rising demand and complexities within Adult Social care and Children Services. It has already applied to the Government for exceptional financial support.
“We would have balanced our budget last year and indeed this year, had we not had these pressures on the Council. The current situation is not of our making at all and I am pleased to say that we have good financial governance and controls," he said.
“Notwithstanding we have to manage the situation as best as we can and it is good to see officers across the Council are taking responsibility to deep dive into everything to see where revenue and capital savings can be made.
“This report highlights an unused IT asset which has become exceptionally valuable and yet for the most part, of no use to the council in delivering our services. This asset is not expected to increase in value further, nor ever be useful, for any meaningful purpose to the borough of Newham. This is the digital equivalent of finding an old painting in the attic, one which no one wants to look at but will fetch a few million pounds at auction.”
Newham Council is the registered owners of a block of IPV4 addresses administered by RIPE, the regional internet registry responsible for the European region. The addresses were allocated to the Council at no cost when the IPV4 range was being initially established.
While the design of the IPV4 range provides for approximately 4.3 billion unique devices and services to be connected, the demand for addresses, driven by the number of internet dependent devices and the spread of internet usage across the world, has since outstripped the availability of addresses in the IPV4 range.
The existing range of IPV4 addresses has now been exhausted so they are now bought, sold and leased on the open market and treated as financial commodities instead of being viewed as purely technical network resources.
- You can read the full report here
- You can watch the meeting of Newham’s Cabinet live on it’s YouTube channel from 10.30am on Tuesday 5 November.
