DOC makes first move on IPv6

The Department of Communications (DOC) has issued a call for nominations for candidates to serve on the IPv4-IPv6 migration task team.

The DOC has said in a statement that there are no policies in place for the transition. “The establishment of the task team is the first step to address the gaps.”

The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority assigned its last IPv4 block early this year. Regional body, the African Information Network (AfriNIC), has predicted Africa will run out of IPv4 addresses within the next two years, and has long been warning governments to address the issue.

According to the DOC, the migration task team will develop the national migration strategy for the country.

“Ideally, the strategy should be in place in the next six months, but will be informed by the task team. It would be ideal to complete the migration process in the next three to five years,” says the DOC.

Earlier this year, at a press conference on the state of IPv6 in Africa, AfriNIC CEO Adiel Akplogan urged the continent to embrace the new protocol.

“Governments must understand how important IPv6 is, and they must take the lead and be able to provide services to those who are IPv6-ready,” said Akplogan.

“We are not in a panic situation per se, because the Internet will continue to run if we take the appropriate measures,” explains Akplogan. “Yes, we are exhausting IPv4, but we have the responsibility at different levels to start implementing the new protocol.

“We must wake the community up, and we only have a limited time to do so. We must focus not on exhaustion, but on post-exhaustion.”

The DOC says the challenge for operators and service providers will be that they have to deploy IPv6-ready equipment, which might be costly for small operators.

“It is advisable to start migrating gradually as the two versions can coexist. It might prove more costly to migrate later,” says the DOC.

According to AfriNIC, only 7% of the world's networks are IPv6-ready. “So if we were to run out of IPv4 addresses today, only 7% of the world would be ready to continue to provide Internet services,” says Akplogan.

“That is what is key; we need to start acting very quickly to make sure that our networks are able to talk IPv6.”

Akplogan adds: “When we talk about IP addresses, many people say it's very technical and not something they are concerned about. But if we look at it more closely, we find that it is very critical for us as end-users as well.

“Anyone wanting to access the Internet after we have exhausted those IP addresses won't be able to do that. That's why IPv6 is very important to safeguard the Internet.”

MD and founder of Metacom R'ean van Niekerk says he has been astonished by the lack of awareness surrounding IPv6 among those not in the IT industry.

“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,” notes Van Niekerk.

Director of the data centre and cloud group at Citrix Damian Saunders adds: “A device or application that speaks IPv4 cannot speak directly to an IPv6 endpoint and herein lies a dilemma.

“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.

“SA will most likely follow this pattern as one of the nations where future Internet growth will be mostly wire-free and IPv6-based,” says Saunders.

World IPv6 Day was held last week Wednesday, in an effort to increase awareness and facilitate a 24-hour global test run. The test run has widely been hailed as a success, and major participants such as Facebook and Google did not note any major glitches.

Locally, the Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) has said its members have long been preparing for the migration. “Fortunately, the likelihood of the Internet coming to a grinding halt is minimal, thanks to a dedicated group of people that have been hard at work developing the next generation of number ranges.”

ISPA encourages all providers that have not yet gone the IPv6 route to start gearing up for this as soon as possible.

The DOC adds that the onus is on all stakeholders, government and business to play their role in the migration process.

“SA is on track to migrate before IPv4 addresses are exhausted,” says the DOC. “There is an urgent need to migrate, but it is not a doomsday scenario.”

The deadline for submissions of nominations for the migration task team is 17 July.