STC o�ers IPv6 to its clientinfrastructure and cloud services

IPv6 vs IPv4 In a nutshell

Smart Technology Centre (STC) is one of the first Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in South Africa to roll

out a full production Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) connectivity to its client infrastructure and cloud services

platform.

IPv4, the de facto protocol used by most electronic devices in South

Africa to connect to the internet, has been around for many years and

is essentially running out of IP addresses. “Things have changed rapidly,

and no-one anticipated the explosion in the number of devices

connected to the internet – from cellphones, laptops, tablets, smart TVs,

watches, routers, right down to smart fridges and home automation

systems. The need for a robust communication protocol to manage the

connectivity of these devices to the internet is paramount,” says Morris.

“Major content providers such as Facebook and Google have deployed dual-stack networks for the sake of

continuity, to make their networks scalable and future-proof, as well as to accommodate countries that are

lagging behind on their IPv6 deployment,” explains Morris. “Essentially what this means is that a device using

IPv4 will eventually only be able to access old legacy content with their outdated IP address – and parallel

systems will need to be set up to manage both IPv4 and IPv6 connected devices. Consumers should be

looking at their choice of ISP and migrating to smarter providers that have fully switched to IPv6, since devices

still connected through IPv4 will likely become incompatible. While we don’t foresee IPv4 being phased out in

the immediate future, its shelf-life expiry is approaching.”

“At STC, we believe it is crucial not to adopt a wait-and-see approach but rather to be proactive in raising the standards in the industry and ensuring seamless transitions for our clients in such a way that it does not disrupt their day-to-day operations, functionality, productivity or security,” concludes Morris.

“SEACOM has been IPv6-capable since 2011, when we

launched our IP/MPLS backbone. What is important is

that we have been promoting IPv6 connectivity to the

community and for our customers since we began

o�ering it as part of our IP services. More specifically, IPv6

deployment in consumer environments (such as that

being done by STC in their FTTH deliveries) is where the

majority of the progress toward IPv6 will happen, and

SEACOM is happy to be part of the supporting

infrastructure that enables STC to be able to deliver IPv6

to their consumers,” explains Claes Segelberg, Chief

Technical O�cer at SEACOM, a STC supplier.

According to Statista, the number of internet-connected

devices (Internet of Things) per person worldwide is

expected to reach 6.58 devices per person by 2020,

indicating a total of around 50 billion connected devices

worldwide. That’s an incomprehensible number of unique

IP address configurations. IPv6 provides a more advanced

number and letter sequence, known as hexadecimal, that

provides internet addressing to an almost infinite number

that should theoretically never run out. Switching,

however, is not a simple process. In certain States in the

US, IPv4 connectivity has already been completely phased

out. In terms of IPv6 implementation, Africa and South

Africa are far behind the curve, scoring a compliance of

just 0.63% - hardly registering a blip when you consider

that the US is at 50% and Europe at 30% in terms of being

IPv6-compliant.

“In essence, an IP address provides a unique location system for computers and devices connected to the internet or on networks and then routes this tra�c across the internet. A basic analogy is to

compare it to a number plate, which

identifies where your computer is

from and where it is going across the

internet roadways and what

information needs to be sent to and

from it. We’ve invested in innovation,

best-of-breed equipment and training

to enable us to deploy IPv6 well ahead

of many other ISPs in the country.

Currently, those networks that have

been connected using IPv6 and

dual-stacked with IPv4 are performing

well, with roughly 10% - 25% of our

current internet tra�c,” explains

Richard Morris, Managing Director of

Smart Technology Centre.

Q: What is an internet protocol?

A: Every device that connects to the Internet, such as

smartphones, notebooks, tablets, all require an identifier.

This is a unique identifier, known as an Internet Protocol

(IP) address which is used to identify the particular

hardware device and connect to the Internet, thus

allowing for data to be transferred across the network.

The two most common versions of IP in use today are

Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) and Internet Protocol

version 6 (IPv6), both of which come from finite pools of

numbers. IPv4 uses 32 bit for its Internet addresses – in a

nutshell, that means it can support 232IP addresses in

total — around 4.29 billion. It may have sounded like a lot

a few years ago, but the connected age has resulted in

almost all of these being used up.

Q: When do we start panicking?

A: Don’t panic just yet. Although the current addresses have

all been allocated, many of them are still unused and are

available to be re-assigned. However, they are an

increasingly scarce resource and will create a problem for the

web – and you, your work productivity and everything else

that goes with it - in the next few years. Although the

depletion of IPv4 addresses was predicted years ago, the

switch has been painfully slow and only a fraction of the web

has started to switch – notably, South Africa is lagging behind

other countries.

Q: What is IPv6?

A: IPv6 is the sixth revision to the Internet Protocol and

the successor to IPv4. The IPv6 address space is 128-bits

(2128) in size, containing

340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 IPv6

addresses. This should be enough to keep the internet

operational for many, many lifetimes.

Q: Why the hesitation to switch on such a critical issue?

A: Much of this has to do with the fact that running both

IPv4 and IPv6 requires special skills, gateways and parallel

networks to transmit data between the two. To make

the switch, software and routers need to be upgraded to

support a more advanced network – and this requires

time, money and serious skill. Nobody's sure how much

the transition will cost or how long it will take, but that’s

why it’s crucial that we start the switch early, develop the

necessary skills, training and support needed to ensure

that the internet and our critical networks can operate

as usual. The alternatives are too dire to contemplate.

Procrastination will rob us of our most mission-critical

asset if we don’t get this right.