It's paradise!

The transition from IPv4 to IPv6 in the Pacific Islands is moving slow says Kidanet Senior Information Technology Officer.

Kidanet thinks there isn't enough awareness made in the country on the serious effects it may have if the public and private networks world wide do not migrate to IPv6 soon.

“Because there is a lack of awareness of IPv6 in the Pacific, the transition will be very slow in the next 6 to 12 months.”

“Members of the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) are fully aware of this migration and members of the public need to understand what IPv6 is.”

Many countries are quickly approaching IP addresses exhaustion as expanding industry and new network applications were contributing to address depletion.

As a result of the slow transition, tourism in the Pacific will be highly affected since possible tourists overseas would not be able to view websites on the web etc.

IPv6 protocol has great potential to not only relieve IPv4 address space shortage but to build larger, more efficient networks and support greater international interoperability.

Kidanet said in a manufacturing environment IPv6 can provide greater inventory control, with real-time information that allows production planning to meet customer demand more accurately and reduces the need to continue paying for redundant production capacity.

Once the private and public sector in Fiji commence transition from IPv4 to IPv6, new equipment supporting IPv6 would have to be purchased in order to implement it.

New intelligent network devices requires an internet addressing scheme that expands far beyond the capacity of IPv4. Mobile IP, IP television distribution, VOIP and wireless LAN are examples of new applications.

Kidanet IT officer said configuring IPv6 into a system is not a difficult task at all, however more awareness is needed in the country since time is now running out.

Kidanet is ready to migrate to IPv6 however, this will be determined by their Internet Access Provider (IAP), Fintel.