As more applications are hosted on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), the need for private IPv4 addresses is growing, leading to IP address exhaustion challenges for large organizations. While IPv6 offers a solution, not all enterprises are ready for it. Enter Class E IPv4 addresses (240.0.0.0/4), which provide a way to address these challenges. Despite being reserved for future use, Class E addresses can be used today within Google Cloud VPCs. Companies like Snap have successfully leveraged Class E to overcome IP address exhaustion challenges. Class E addresses offer vast address space, scalability, efficient resource utilization, and future-proofing benefits. While there are considerations and compatibility issues to keep in mind, transitioning to Class E can help organizations scale and innovate within Google Cloud and GKE.
https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/containers-kubernetes/how-class-e-addresses-solve-for-ip-address-exhaustion-in-gke/