With IPv4 addresses expected to run out in Africa within the next year, a lack of preparation for the new IPv6 protocol could be disastrous for business.
“I am actually astonished at the lack of awareness surrounding IPv6 among those not in the IT industry,” says R'ean van Niekerk, MD and founder of Metacom.
“The transition to IPv6 will take time, but I do believe that it will have a snowball effect and if you are not proactive you will be left behind.”
Van Niekerk echoes the sentiments expressed by AfriNIC CEO Adiel Akplogan, who spoke at a press conference on the topic last week.
Akplogan urged the continent to embrace the new protocol and to begin taking the necessary steps to ensure a smooth transition.
Damian Saunders, director of the data centre and cloud group at Citrix, explains: “For businesses where this really matters (carriers, ISPs and dot-coms), IP address depletion is a familiar spectre, well understood, and measures have already been taken to prepare for the move to IPv6.
“Consumer education on this topic has, however, been generally poor, so for the rest of us, news that the Internet has been living on borrowed time comes as something of a shock.”
Plan ahead
For those not in the know, there remains confusion over what needs to be done and when.
“In most cases, the transition will be passive and for many of us it has already begun,” says Saunders, adding that IPv6 is already a standard component of 3G, which is now a common means of high-bandwidth mobile connectivity.
“Businesses need to ensure that their devices and software are capable of supporting the new protocol,” says Saunders. While dual-stack protocol implementation is available, many ISPs are expected to phase-out IPv4 eventually, since it will not be cost-effective to simultaneously run both versions.
“A device or application that speaks IPv4 cannot speak directly to an IPv6 end point and herein lies a dilemma,” says Saunders.
“Whereas most operating systems and devices designed in the last five years will support both standards, older systems will need to be masked using a translation gateway or similar service. For any business running complex networks, a plan for IPv6 readiness is an imperative, and the impact unavoidable.”
Van Niekerk encourages companies to appoint someone as an IPv6 transition manager if they have not done so already. “The sooner one acts, the better to ensure a smooth transition process for everyone.”
Light years
Van Niekerk explains how, after doing some number-crunching, he was able to calculate that IPv6 will increase the number of unique addresses to 340 undecillion (3.4x1038).
“With IPv6 there will be approximately 1.2 IP addresses for every square millimetre for a sphere, which has the diameter of a light year,” explains Van Niekerk.
To put the size of the sphere into perspective, if one was to travel at 120km per hour, it would take roughly 8.9 million years to cover that distance. Thus, with IPv6 there will be no shortage of IP addresses for generations to come.
Expected benefits
“It is the start of a borderless communication infrastructure, where any device can connect to another device anywhere in the world. The very fact that such a multitude of devices can be connected will bring about fantastic business opportunities for brand new solutions and software.”
Saunders also points out that by providing many more IP addresses, IPv6 is expected to bring improvements to performance security, voice integration and the mobile Internet.
AfriNIC is positive that the transition to IPv6 will increase the availability of Internet technology in Africa and will increase the level of interconnection for businesses and individuals with the rest of the world.
“With bandwidth becoming more widely available and less costly, ISPs and broadband providers need to ensure the infrastructure is in place to support this unprecedented growth in the region and consequently the increasing need for more IP identifiers,” explains Saunders.
Savvy business
Speaking in terms of the South African context specifically, Saunders says that with local average ADSL speeds lower than 2Mbps, many consumers are moving straight to wireless broadband. “This has driven an 88% increase in wireless Internet subscriptions over the last 12 months and IPv6 will be a key enabler for this continued growth.”
In North America, medium-sized office buildings are now being designed with no provision for local area networks, the belief being that before construction is complete, most SMEs or branch offices will have migrated fully to the wireless Internet.
“SA will most likely follow this pattern as one of the nations where future Internet growth will be mostly wire-free and IPv6-based,” notes Saunders.
“Savvy businesses are already seeking advice on how the new standard can speed the adoption of rich Internet and consumer devices to boost productivity in the workplace.
“Failure to take affirmative action on IPv6 could leave businesses at risk of being out-executed by the competition,” concludes Saunders.
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