IBM Cloud VPC introduces a restricted-access IPv4 BYOIP beta

What changed

IBM announced a BYOIP beta for Cloud VPC on 29 September 2026. Selected customers can use their own public IPv4 ranges through a resource called a custom authorized CIDR. The release notice says API support is available, with UI and CLI support to follow.

The feature is restricted to allowlisted accounts for evaluation and testing. IBM's documentation says provisioning is handled through an IBM Support case. Access to an API does not make importing a range a self-service operation.

How the address pool is used

An onboarded CIDR provides a pool from which customers can allocate public address ranges or reserve individual floating IPs. Public address ranges need ingress routing to direct traffic to the intended destination.

Customer-brought CIDRs are regional. Using the same range in another region requires deprovisioning it from the first region and provisioning it again. The documented BYOIP feature supports IPv4 only.

Why it matters for BYOIP teams

The beta adds an option for organisations evaluating an IBM Cloud VPC migration while retaining established public addresses. Existing allowlists and services tied to those addresses make that continuity useful.

Our recommendation is to treat eligibility and the onboarding process as early evaluation questions. A migration plan needs a clear distinction between importing a prefix, allocating addresses to resources and making the resulting service reachable.

What to check

• Confirm that IBM has enabled the beta for the intended account and agreed the onboarding steps.
• Document the target region and how an eventual move out of that region would be handled.
• Test the chosen address-allocation and routing workflow with a non-production service.
• Establish who owns the support case, prefix authorisation, cutover checks and rollback decision.
• Confirm the available management interfaces before building automation around them.

For background on portability and routing responsibilities, see What is BYOIP?.