Networks

You can request public Ip address space from your ISP. ARIN, RIPE, et al, typically will not provide you with address space until you need between a /20 and /21.

It would be wise to consider installing a firewall, and using a private network address space on your LAN (192.168.x.x). Most firewall appliances will allow dynamic NAT (many private IPs to one outgoing public IP) and static NAT (one-to-one relationship between a private/public address pair).

Dyanmic NAT can be used for all your 'surfers', while static NAT makes servers visible to the world.

Meanwhile, the firewall offers protection.

HTH

I suggest you do the following:

1)Instal a NAT/Proxy server
2)Configure the NAT/Proxy with the static IP given by ur ISP
3)Implement Class C IP (192.168.x.x) range on you internal network & direct external traffic to the NAT/Proxy. U can use a DHCP for this if ur network is large.

Regards.