from SAVIOUS KWINIKA in Cape Town
CAPE TOWN, (CAJ News) – EXPERTS have urged countries in the African continent to migrate to the most recent version of the Internet Protocol (IPv6) in order to realise the full potential of innovation and security of the internet.
This follows the realisation only Kenya, Morocco and South Africa have successfully presented their IPv6 White Paper for development while the remaining 51 African countries are yet to make effort towards the initiative.
African Telecommunications Union (ATU) Secretary-General, John Omo, encouraged member states to earnestly consider embracing IPv6 as the old IPv4 version had since been exhausted.
“In other words, new protocols for the internet will be optimised for and depend on IPv6,” he said.
“This means that the IPv4 networks will stop evolving and updating. It also means that the IPv4 networks will be more vulnerable to new security,” said Omo.
He therefore called upon African governments and operators to quickly migrate to IPv6 in order to realise proper functionality and scalability.
“To guarantee the sustainability of the internet, which is the foundation of our digital economy today, governments and operators have initiated the transition to IPv6. A number of developed and emerging economies have released policies to accelerate IPv6 deployment,” the ATU boss said.
Ryan Zhao, the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of Middle East and Africa Region, Huawei Data Communication Product, echoed the sentiments on the benefit of embracing IPv6.
“Besides larger address spaces, IPv6 brings extensibility to the internet,” Zhao explained.
“Based on IPv6, IPv6 enhanced improves IP network capabilities in six aspects: automation, deterministic quality, low latency, security, ultra-high bandwidth and ubiquitous connectivity,” Zhao added.
IPv4 means the fourth version of IP, the standard that routes internet traffic and other packet-switched networks.
It was introduced in 1982 by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
IPv6 is an upgrade.
– CAJ News