Evolution and convergence of network infrastructure towards Future Network solutions IPv6 Adiel A. Akplogan CEO, AfriNIC Euro-Africa ICT Forum 2010 December 2010
About us Internet Numbers Registry function Other Services to the community Manage IPv4 & IPv6 Manage ASN (2 and 4 byte) Manage rdns tree for IP prefixes in use by African Operators Provide a Public WHOIS Contribute to IP address Management Global Policy development Biannual Internet Protocol meeting: 13 so far in 10 countries Internet Infrastructure reinforcement development in Africa: IXP DNS Root Server copy Anycast service to support cctlds in Africa Support to academic Networks Training: more than 90 training sessions in 40 countries around Africa. Page 2
A tentative dive into Infrastructure future [in Africa] Africa, as with all the other regions, will be heavily embracing fiber technology toward making (broadband) Internet access a universal service. Africa has the opportunity to transform its weak copper infrastructure into an opportunity for innovation by exploring new form of Internetworking infrastructure and services. Page 3
A tentative dive into Infrastructure future [in Africa] Globally the internetworking focus will gradually move from the core to the edge. Today we rely on Internet Service Providers to connect us, and also to provide us with essential Internetworking services (Routing, redundancy, DNS, mail, web, etc.) Page 4 Tomorrow everyone will be able to operate as such: every house will be multi-homed, ordinary people will run more and more complex networks in their homes in combination with a permanent ability to control such network using mobile ability and convergence of technologies
Immediate effect Page 5 Last mile provision will be critical (Mobile, Satellite, Fiber ) There will be a distinct need for more Internet Identifiers: IP addresses To be able to support the forecasted growth and evolution of network Infrastructure, and running services there is a real need for adequate identifiers (IP addresses). IPv4 the protocol on which Internet has run during the past 40 odd years, is running out (few more weeks to go?) What is the solution? Are we going to jeopardise that beautiful future that we are foreseeing?
There is A SOLUTION The new generation of the Internet protocol was designed to solve the foreseen address shortage issue and at the same time provide the necessary framework for a possible evolution of how we use the network. Mobility embedded IPv6 Other Security and Packets Differentiation features Page 6
AfriNIC/Africa and IPv6 Since our setup in 2004 we have been engaged in a wide-scale programme to raise awareness and build capacity in IPv6 (we have invested more than 1M USD in these activities over the past 5 years). In 2005 there were only 4 networks in Africa that had IPv6 prefixes and most of them were not visible to the Internet. Today we have more than 120 networks with IPv6 prefixes! 6.2 % of publicly visible networks in Africa are IPv6 ready, compared to the global average of 7.6% (That s positive reinforcement that African networks are growing and ready for new challenges!) Page 7
Some data about IPv6 in Africa We still have to catch-up in terms of adoption of IPv6. Currently 4 th regionally, while 1 year ago we were #1. 140 120 120 Zambia South Africa 40 30 Other 100 80 71 Ghana 20 10 Kenya 60 40 Rwanda 0 Mauritius Page 8 20 0 1 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Uganda Tanzania Egypt Nigeria
Why talk about IPv6 Why do we have to care for IPv6 when we have not finished deploying IPv4? It is important to bear in mind that the Internet works on a point to point peering agreement basis: Page 9 You have to announce your prefixes to run a network! And at some point in time the default will be IPv6 for the major players if you are not already testing IPv6 you will find yourself in a situation where you would not be able to announce IPv4 (at a reasonable cost) as service levels for this will gradually erode over time!
Euro-Africa Cooperation With this Internet Resource Challenge we are almost all in the same boat. Real Partnership with Europe: Africa has its own realities that need to be acknowledged, and cooperation plans designed accordingly. Governments have to play a leading, and facilitation role. Are governments Infrastructure IPv6 compliant? (equipment, software, etc ) Research on IPv6 for development This is an opportunity for Africa to innovate and promote its ability to use technology to solve local problems facing developing countries Page 10
AfriNIC and FP7 [6Deploy] In 2008, AfriNIC joined the 6Deploy consortium (an FP7 project) Collaboration on training activities Hosting of a Virtual IPv6 Lab available to the African (and Internet) community @Large at no cost! Page 11 Collaboration in use case collection on IPv6 deployment experience.
The way forward While thinking about the future of networks and e-infrastructure we should not forget what this Infrastructure is being developed for. If this is not thought out in an holistic way, we will miss some critical aspects of our goal: Which is to improve the overall socio-economical environment of people.! Page 12 There will be no future Internet without an Internet protocol that will be able to support it. IPv6 has been designed for that, so it has to become a key element of any future plan.
Conclusion We, in Africa, should be prepared, so as not to miss the boat this time! Page 13
Thank you www.afrinic.net adiel@afrinic.net" Page 14