The regional Internet registry (RIR) for Africa, AfriNIC, says IPv4 addresses have run out.
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority allocated the last two free batches of IPv4 addresses to the RIR for Asia Pacific APNIC yesterday.
AfriNIC CEO Adiel Akplogan explains that the remaining five batches of addresses, containing about 16 million unique addresses each, will now be distributed among the five RIRs, as per global policy.
He says this should be done today and - at this point - the global free pool will be exhausted. Akplogan adds that the allocation marks a turning point in the history of Internet infrastructure.
Act now
He says it is now more important than ever for organisations around the world to begin planning for the next generation of IP addresses, IPv6.
“Due to the careful management of IP addresses by the community, AfriNIC is likely to be the last RIR with IPv4 address space available for its members.” However, he says the region will eventually exhaust IPv4 addresses within the next two years.
Akplogan says it is vital that Internet service providers (ISPs), businesses and governments across Africa use this extra time available to plan and execute IPv6 deployment to ensure successful adoption.
“This will protect against the need for a full network upgrade in the future and improve Internet stability for the entire region.”
No choice
Akplogan says SA and Africa in general are not very well prepared for IPv6 changeover.
“Many ISPs have IPv6 allocations, some even announced them, but few have really deployed them on their service network and are ready to provide service over IPv6.”
He says the final allocations of IPv4 will urge service providers and all network operators to look carefully at their situations.
“They have no choice but to deploy IPv6 all across their network now. This unfortunately is not only about router and networking equipment, but it also affects software and security mechanisms and policies in each organisation that is connected.”
Akplogan says AfriNIC will launch several programmes to enhance awareness and engagement around the issue.
“We can't say it enough: we need more awareness and ultimately interest from decision-makers at all levels on the impact of Internet number resources on their businesses and the sustainability of their networks.”
Costly optimism
Despite regional ISPs not being well prepared for IPv6 adoption, Akplogan says the region will be ready in time if it acts now.
“The Internet is a global network and it is impossible for part of it to be lagging behind in terms of the protocol itself.”
He says the greater the impact online business has on countries' economies, the less choice there will be for operators to embrace IPv6.
“The main question for me is how much will it cost us? How much money are we going to lose in bad planning and lack of anticipation? Will we still wait until western experts tell us what to do and sell us their expensive patchwork solutions?”
SA crisis
However, SA does not yet have policies in place for the switchover, says deputy communications minister Obed Bapela. He says this still needs to be addressed, along with the regulatory environment.
“We're in crisis mode. We think it's all fine now and it will work itself out, until customers start calling and saying they can't access something,” says Tenet CTO Andrew Alston.
Any equipment connected to the Internet should have an IP address. If IPv6 is not adopted, users will no longer be able to connect new equipment to the Internet.
Not being ready for IPv6 will impact the end-user, because - if operators or ISPs are not ready to deploy - it will be difficult for them to connect users to the Internet.
For this reason, ISPs need to make sure their infrastructure is compatible with the new protocol. “If we do not change over, we will be cut off from rest of the world and our Internet will not grow any more,” says Akplogan.
He adds that working with outdated protocol will cost more to connect and the region will function as an island. “It will be a net isolated from the rest of the world.”
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