diff --git a/core/java/src/net/i2p/util/Addresses.java b/core/java/src/net/i2p/util/Addresses.java
index d522167f44..b33839b483 100644
--- a/core/java/src/net/i2p/util/Addresses.java
+++ b/core/java/src/net/i2p/util/Addresses.java
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.SortedSet;
 import java.util.TreeSet;
 
+import org.apache.http.conn.util.InetAddressUtils;
+
 import net.i2p.I2PAppContext;
 
 /**
@@ -260,12 +262,9 @@ public abstract class Addresses {
         }
         if (rv == null) {
             try {
-                boolean isIPv4 = host.replaceAll("[0-9\\.]", "").length() == 0;
-                if (isIPv4 && host.replaceAll("[0-9]", "").length() != 3)
-                    return null;
                 rv = InetAddress.getByName(host).getAddress();
-                if (isIPv4 ||
-                    host.replaceAll("[0-9a-fA-F:]", "").length() == 0) {
+                if (InetAddressUtils.isIPv4Address(host) ||
+                    InetAddressUtils.isIPv6Address(host)) {
                     synchronized (_IPAddress) {
                         _IPAddress.put(host, rv);
                     }
diff --git a/history.txt b/history.txt
index a9580a1929..fc5a077138 100644
--- a/history.txt
+++ b/history.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+2015-09-27 dg
+ * Router: Fix soft restarts for 'massive' clock jumps (over +150s or -61s) and recover from standby
+   and hibernate (ticket #1014).
+
 2015-09-27 zzz
  * Console:
    - Export SSL cert on creation
@@ -9,8 +13,7 @@
  * Tunnels: Use max of 2 not-failing peers in an exploratory tunnel,
    use high cap for the rest; change outbound exploratory
    default length from 2 + 0-1 to 3+0.
- * Router: Fix soft restarts for 'massive' clock jumps (over +150s or -61s) and recover from standby
-   and hibernate (ticket #1014).
+ * Util: Speed up IP address validation by using Apache's implementation (ticket #1198)
 
 2015-09-25 dg
  * Rename _() for translation to _t() for Java 9 compatibility (ticket #1456)
diff --git a/router/java/src/net/i2p/data/router/RouterAddress.java b/router/java/src/net/i2p/data/router/RouterAddress.java
index ca0f94d08a..e7cd0d6842 100644
--- a/router/java/src/net/i2p/data/router/RouterAddress.java
+++ b/router/java/src/net/i2p/data/router/RouterAddress.java
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ import java.util.Date;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Properties;
 
+import org.apache.http.conn.util.InetAddressUtils;
+
 import net.i2p.data.DataFormatException;
 import net.i2p.data.DataHelper;
 import net.i2p.data.DataStructureImpl;
@@ -219,8 +221,8 @@ public class RouterAddress extends DataStructureImpl {
         if (host != null) {
             rv = Addresses.getIP(host);
             if (rv != null &&
-                (host.replaceAll("[0-9\\.]", "").length() == 0 ||
-                 host.replaceAll("[0-9a-fA-F:]", "").length() == 0)) {
+                (InetAddressUtils.isIPv4Address(host) ||
+                 InetAddressUtils.isIPv6Address(host))) {
                 _ip = rv;
             }
         }
diff --git a/router/java/src/net/i2p/router/RouterVersion.java b/router/java/src/net/i2p/router/RouterVersion.java
index 5a58b19bc2..e36cd3b143 100644
--- a/router/java/src/net/i2p/router/RouterVersion.java
+++ b/router/java/src/net/i2p/router/RouterVersion.java
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ public class RouterVersion {
     /** deprecated */
     public final static String ID = "Monotone";
     public final static String VERSION = CoreVersion.VERSION;
-    public final static long BUILD = 11;
+    public final static long BUILD = 12;
 
     /** for example "-test" */
     public final static String EXTRA = "";
diff --git a/router/java/src/net/i2p/router/transport/udp/UDPAddress.java b/router/java/src/net/i2p/router/transport/udp/UDPAddress.java
index 691601933e..3d22e41b72 100644
--- a/router/java/src/net/i2p/router/transport/udp/UDPAddress.java
+++ b/router/java/src/net/i2p/router/transport/udp/UDPAddress.java
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ import java.net.InetAddress;
 import java.net.UnknownHostException;
 import java.util.Map;
 
+import org.apache.http.conn.util.InetAddressUtils;
+
 import net.i2p.data.Base64;
 import net.i2p.data.router.RouterAddress;
 import net.i2p.data.SessionKey;
@@ -262,12 +264,9 @@ class UDPAddress {
         }
         if (rv == null) {
             try {
-                boolean isIPv4 = host.replaceAll("[0-9\\.]", "").length() == 0;
-                if (isIPv4 && host.replaceAll("[0-9]", "").length() != 3)
-                    return null;
                 rv = InetAddress.getByName(host);
-                if (isIPv4 ||
-                    host.replaceAll("[0-9a-fA-F:]", "").length() == 0) {
+                if (InetAddressUtils.isIPv4Address(host) ||
+                    InetAddressUtils.isIPv6Address(host)) {
                     synchronized (_inetAddressCache) {
                         _inetAddressCache.put(host, rv);
                     }