Africa: Mobile Internet Take-Up is Speeding the Take-Up of IPV6 - AllAfrica.com

Russell SouthwoodLondon

A few old age ago Africa's new Internet Numbers Registry, AfriNIC looked more than of a dreaming and a supplication than a reality. But the take-up of IPv4 Internet addresses, which have almost reached 85% of those allocated, have shown that it can make its occupation and make it well. It's now experiencing a 2nd moving ridge of growing as mobile companies purchase IPv6 computer addresses to maintain up with the enlargement of mobile information services. Charles Taze Russell Southwood spoke to AfriNIC's chief executive officer Adiel Akplogan about what it all means.

The procedure of preparing for the passage to IPv6 started in December 2005 when AfriNIC ran its first preparation course of study on the topic as portion of its yearly meeting. Back then, its acceptance may have got seemed less urgent and indeed maybe slightly irrelevant for Africa. But the dramatic take-up of AfriNIC's IPv4 allotment have made this "it's not for Africa" place dangerously outdated.

Although AfriNIC's up-to-the-minute survey foretells that IPv4 computer computer addresses will run out in 2012, the pressure level to see IPv6 addresses as an option will turn stronger as clip travels by. For since AfriNIC started, there have been a 100% growing in IPv4 allotments and this have increased dramatically again with the entry of 3G mobile information services.

Overall, AfriNIC have allocated 16 million addresses, which intends that somewhere out there on the continent there are 16 million devices that demand an information science computer address to operate. These could be anything from a personal computer to a pressman or a mobile phone. Last twelvemonth it allocated 5 million computer computer computer addresses and a important proportionality of these were from mobile operators moving from private to public IPv4 addresses to ran into information service demand.

In three old age time, it projects that the figure of addresses allocated will have got doubled to approximately 32 million. The tantalizing but slightly elusive computation is to inquire how many devices/addresses there are on norm per individual because out of that guestimate it would be possible to state roughly how many people had entree to an Internet ready device of some sort.

In 2005 there were only four allotments of IPv6 computer computer addresses but now there are nearly 60 allotments so the passage point may well acquire near as mobile companies passage first to IPv4 addresses (exhausting the existent allotment more quickly than the 2012 prediction) and electric switch to IPv6. As Adiel Akplogan notes:" This tallies to millions of addresses." AfriNIC is looking to do certain that IPv6 computer computer addresses are deployed in each African country.

So what's so good about IPv6? The faultfinders always believe that ascents simply violin with what was once perfectly adequate and demand whole new coevals of fiddling to acquire them right. Akplogan states this volition not be the lawsuit as IPv4 have drawn heavily on the experience of IPv4 and it incorporates characteristics that are much easier to access, things that existed in IPv4 but which were not really necessarily widely used.

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And those features? Akplogan said:"Security is embedded in IPv6 and it's possible to encrypt communication theory and there will be the development of apps around that as it will be possible to safely encypt on the fly."

But the cardinal draw in footing of how Africa's Internet marketplaces are developing is IPv6 also have mobility embedded in it:"We'll attain a point where information science computer addresses will go our identity. You can attain person on any device on the same information science addresses."

"A figure of arrangements have got got recognized that these advantages are relevant to Africa and have imposed a regulation that all new equipment is IPv6-ready."