Chapter VIII - Moving from the old to the new Internet Protocol

ICANN's ceromony to allocate the last five blocks of IPv4 address - February 3rd, 2011. Miami

35 years ago, Mr. Vint Cerf and scientists colleagues decided that a pool of 4,3 billion network address spaces would be enough to allocate an experiment of connecting computers in an advanced data network. At that time nobody could predict what now became the Internet with 2 billion users around the globe and all its transversal impacts in the modern society. 


On February 3rd, 2010, the network naming system protocol (IPv4) - which is the unique sequence of number assigned to each website, computer or device connected to the Internet - was considered completed depleted by ICANN when the last five blocks were allocated to the 5 registries region in the globe.

Now the world is shifting to the new Internet Protocol (IPv6) which represents a huge expansion of the pool of addresses and creates a new base for Internet growth. Fortunately, this was predicted and since late 90s, when the IPv6 was approved, organizations all over the world are preparing for the change. 


For many sources, this situation reminds the Millennium bug when computers and software needed to be updated so they could recognize the year 2000 and beyond. But the Internet Protocol migration seems far more complex because the two protocol families are largely incompatible, and as long the the process will be shifting gradually, the Internet will be working in a dual slack. So there is no end date for the migration and during this, users could experience shutdown on their Internet networks. 


Concerns about this issues is being addressed everywhere by Internet authorities, governments, regulators, corporations and network specialists. For users, the shift should be smooth and be something like "changing gears" in the words of the father of the Internet. Meanwhile, as long the IPv6 is prepared to connect a board range of the devices to the Internet, users could need held to setup their devices, routers, systems and applications. 


Globally countries are also running to adopt the new protocol. In Cape Verde, the regulator for Internet and Telecommunication has been organizing workshops and activities to prepare for the migration. For this country, which has only 9 IP address ranges, IPv6 represents a big gate to expand Internet infrastructure, mobile connectivity and services based on such as e-commerce, e-learning, and consolidate the e-government initiative.


Hopefully IPv6 will represent a real development opportunity for a country like Cape Verde who will have real chances to expand the Cyber Islands project and become a hub of services in the mid-Atlantic Ocean. 


Sources:
ICANN - Nonprofit corporation that coordinates the Internet Naming System
ANAC - Cape Verde's Regulator for Internet and Telecommunication
Q&A about IPv6
IPv6 and developing countries
Drumming up more Addresses on the Internet
Avoiding the pitfalls when transitioning to IPv6
Going IPv6 isn't going to be easy