NiRA laments operators’ slow migration to IPV6

The Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) has said only four of the 103 Autonomous System Numbers (ASN) registered in Nigeria were live on Internet Protocol Version Six (IPV6) platform.

NiRA’s Vice President, Mr Mohammed Rudman, made this known at the International Capacity Building and Enhancement workshop on IPV6 in Lagos, last week.

The workshop was co-hosted by the Association of Telecommunications Company of Nigeria (ATCON), Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), University of Ibadan (UI), in conjunction with the Africa Network Information Centre (AfriNIC).

Rudman said that the four ASN on the IPV6 platform were not properly propagating IPV6 on the internet.

He said that over 30 organisations had acquired IPV6 from AfriNIC, but most of them were not using it.

According to him, the internet world has been using the Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPV4) in the last two decades.

“In spite of its tremendous success, IPV4 is showing signs of strain, especially in its fast depleting IP address space and its growing security concerns.

“IPV6 preserves everything good in today’s internet, and adds much more, such as virtually unlimited IP address space to connect everyone and everything.

“It has stateless auto-configuration, seamless mobility, automated network management, end-to-end security and new optional service levels,” he said.

An IP address is a postal address for each and every Internet-connected device which enables websites to send the search information to access the appropriate website.

IPV6 is the most recent version of IP, the communications protocol that provides an identification and location system for computers on networks and routes traffic across the internet.