October 2009 - KICTANet

Re: [kictanet] kictanet Digest, Vol 29, Issue 65
by Herbert Nyukuri 28 Oct '09

28 Oct '09

Walu, Kwach and all, I read the discussion and analysis about broadband costing with immense interest. I belief that the stats below can enrich and contribute in putting into perspective what we are talking about in a nutshell. I have lifted it from a paper am reviewing. I therefore see CCK's plate quite full in making sure that we consistently move towards the direction of affordable rates. Herbert Development Informatics Working Paper no.42: The ICT4D 2.0 Manifesto Broadband: New Hope / New Divide Broadband is already an integral part of ICT usage in the global North. In the US, for example (one of the poorer performers), by 2008, there were 25 broadband subscriptions per 100 citizens, and 55% of households had broadband, representing around 90% of all Internet connections. By contrast, the subscription rates for most African countries including Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda were well under 0.1% of the population. Tiny Andorra had roughly as many broadband subscriptions as Africa's most populous country, Nigeria. So, as we start seeing digital divides closing around Internet access and mobile phone ownership, a new broadband divide is growing. This is already – and will continuingly – require a strategic response which, if not led, must at the least be coordinated by government. As and where this happens, the development results will be impressive. Broadband uptake is associated at the macro level with growth in indicators such as employment and GDP, and at the micro level there are many new employment- and productivity-enhancing opportunities. Manchester Centre for Development Informatics Working Paper 42 Full citation The ICT4D 2.0 Manifesto: Where Next for ICTs and International Development? Richard Heeks Development Informatics Group University of Manchester, UK 2009 --- On Tue, 10/27/09, kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke <kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote: From: kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke <kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: kictanet Digest, Vol 29, Issue 65 To: herbertwamalwa(a)yahoo.com Date: Tuesday, October 27, 2009, 8:53 AM Send kictanet mailing list submissions to kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke You can reach the person managing the list at kictanet-owner(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of kictanet digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Re: [Skunkworks] Safaricom to introduce unlimitedinternet service (Akich Kwach) 2. Re: "Outsource our jobs? Why firms are afraid of BPOs" (Edith Adera) 3. Re: "Outsource our jobs? Why firms are afraid of BPOs" (Rad!) 4. Fw: press invite - kenya economic report 2009 launch (alice munyua) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:30:26 +0300 From: "Akich Kwach" <kwach(a)archway-productions.com> To: "Walubengo J" <jwalu(a)yahoo.com> Cc: Kenya ICT Policy - kictanet <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] [Skunkworks] Safaricom to introduce unlimitedinternet service Message-ID: <BCCA03C03191455C9A683D8ACEDA96DF@USERPC> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Walu, I have been receiving such direct marketing mails from Safaricom. One thing i noted with concern; are such products developed/informed based market research, i doubt if ordinary Kenyans would have made such proposals. In my view, this is like pushing products/services down the customers throat. Even with those "wonder speed", COST is stil a fundamental factor especially for the SMEs under which majority of Kenyans fall. One fact is the operator is ignoring the public expectations - speed without cost is just but a fallacy. Thank you for making the GDP comparison which the operators and regulators always ignore, both should aprreciate internet and information are basic needs if we have to achieve the 2030 dream and as such those in the sector should not just be focussing on being declared the highest tax payers. Could someone from Safaricom let us know whom they were targeting with such offers? Have a blessed week Akich Kwach ----- Original Message ----- From: Walubengo J To: kwach(a)archway-productions.com Cc: Kenya ICT Policy - kictanet Sent: Monday, October 26, 2009 9:10 AM Subject: Re: [kictanet] [Skunkworks] Safaricom to introduce unlimitedinternet service very interesting analysis...@200ksh unlimited internet gives you 6,000Ksh per month as some of you noted - almost 100USD per month. Almost like in the US -BUT the US GDP per capita is about 50times higher than .KE. So we must adopt some weighting to get the equivalent pricing in kenya. Put in another way, Kenyans should work towards 50x less the US monthly rates (of 100USD) for broadband internet i.e. 2USD per month for unlimited broadband internet. It wont happen tomorrow, maybe 2030? But am glad the operators are tweaking all possible combinations as the 1st step in seeing how to move in that direction... walu. --- On Sun, 10/25/09, Bernard Mwagiru <bmwagiru(a)gmail.com> wrote: From: Bernard Mwagiru <bmwagiru(a)gmail.com> Subject: Re: [Skunkworks] Safaricom to introduce unlimited internet service To: "Skunkworks Forum" <skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke> Date: Sunday, October 25, 2009, 12:55 PM Thats Kbps not KBps... ./bernard On Sun, Oct 25, 2009 at 11:50 AM, Bernard Mwagiru <bmwagiru(a)gmail.com> wrote: My peak is approx 260KBps. Average 140 KBps... However, I don't doubt the capacities provided by the submarine fiber cables...Thats no longer a constraint now....My biggest worry is at the radio interface. The biggest bottleneck in any GSM/UMTS network is at the BTS/Node B level...You can have STM-1 capacities on the transmission but the bandwidth in the wireless medium diminishes exponentially as the number of users per cell increases. Also voice is always given a priority so again this should add to the congestion(remember the free calls ?) Also, there's no info on how long this promo is(or whether it is a promo)... ./bernard On Sun, Oct 25, 2009 at 11:35 AM, Dennis Kioko <dmbuvi(a)gmail.com> wrote: 10 gigs at what rate Bernard? I think they now have extra bandwidth on Teams, hence the unlimited product. -- with Regards: Get your free technology e-magazine in pdf format: Tekniaonline: http://bit.ly/tekniaonline-2 Maybe we should start a Reality show of collapsing buidlings: http://gramware.blogspot.com _______________________________________________ Skunkworks mailing list Skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------ Skunkworks Rules http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke Other lists ------------- Announce: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks-announce Science: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/science kazi: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/admin/kazi/general -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ Skunkworks mailing list Skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------ Skunkworks Rules http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke Other lists ------------- Announce: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks-announce Science: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/science kazi: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/admin/kazi/general ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: kwach(a)archway-productions.com Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/kwach%40archway-produc…

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Re: [kictanet] "Outsource our jobs? Why firms are afraid of BPOs"
by Peres Were 28 Oct '09

28 Oct '09

The article is enlightening, especially since in the past, local corporates which run their own call centres have not been willing to openly discuss their reasons as to why they prefer not to outsource. It is true that most companies would rather keep their customer care functions in house, so they can maintain control of this critical aspect of their business which has a direct impact on building and retaining their customer base. Much of India's growth in the contact centre industry has been spurred by Western corporates 'offshoring' their contact centres to India. This means that the company simply sets up and runs its own contact centre in an offshore location. The result is that the organisation still maintains control of its customer care operations, albeit at a lower cost due to the reduced operational costs at the offshore location. However, there are still many organisations that prefer to outsource their call centres, depending what functions those centres could be providing e.g order entry, travel reservations, credit card applications, debt collection, telephone screening interviews for mass recruitment, etc the list is endless . We at the Kenya BPO & Contact Centre Society are working closely with government and stakeholders, towards developing a strong contact centre industry that can build customer loyalty and deliver an excellent customer experience that can reinforce brand values, regardless of whether the contact centre is in house or outsourced. We are also encouraging organizations to outsource various processes to the numerous BPO & KPO operators that exist in Kenya. There is a misconception that BPO=Call Centres. However there are many other processes which local corporates including the banks are outsourcing e.g. data storage, billing, payroll processing, IT Support, market surveys, telesales, market research, and many others. The title of the newspaper article is therefore misleading. Peres Were Vice Chair Kenya BPO Society Quoting michael Ouma <benomnta(a)yahoo.com>: > > > Hi all: > > kindly follow this link for the article from the interview we did: > "Outsource our jobs? Why firms are afraid of BPOs" > > http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/-/2558/676830/-/qxo0jiz/-/index.html > > > Michael Ouma > Journalist > Nairobi, Kenya > Tel: +254-725-537823 / +254-0731-201729 > Email: benomnta(a)yahoo.com > > "There are risks and costs to a program of action, but they are far > less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction," > - JF Kennedy. > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > This message was sent to: pwere(a)cascadegl.com > Unsubscribe or change your options at > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/pwere%40cascadegl.com > ----- End forwarded message ----- The article is enlightening, especially since in the past, local corporates which run their own call centres have not been willing to openly discuss their reasons as to why they prefer not to outsource. It is true that most companies would rather keep their customer care functions in house, so they can maintain control of this critical aspect of their business which has a direct impact on building and retaining their customer base. Much of India's growth in the contact centre industry has been spurred by Western corporates 'offshoring' their contact centres to India. This means that the company simply sets up and runs its own contact centre in an offshore location. The result is that the organisation still maintains control of its customer care operations, albeit at a lower cost due to the reduced operational costs at the offshore location. However, there are still many organisations that prefer to outsource their call centres, depending what functions those centres could be providing e.g order entry, travel reservations, credit card applications, debt collection, telephone screening interviews for mass recruitment, etc the list is endless . We at the Kenya BPO & Contact Centre Society are working closely with government and stakeholders, towards developing a strong contact centre industry that can build customer loyalty and deliver an excellent customer experience that can reinforce brand values, regardless of whether the contact centre is in house or outsourced. We are also encouraging organizations to outsource various processes to the numerous BPO & KPO operators that exist in Kenya. There is a misconception that BPO=Call Centres. However there are many other processes which local corporates including the banks are outsourcing e.g. data storage, billing, payroll processing, IT Support, market surveys, telesales, market research, and many others. The title of the newspaper article is therefore misleading. Peres Were Vice Chair Kenya BPO Society Quoting michael Ouma <benomnta(a)yahoo.com>: > > > Hi all: > > kindly follow this link for the article from the interview we did: > "Outsource our jobs? Why firms are afraid of BPOs" > > http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/-/2558/676830/-/qxo0jiz/-/index.html > > > Michael Ouma > Journalist > Nairobi, Kenya > Tel: +254-725-537823 / +254-0731-201729 > Email: benomnta(a)yahoo.com > > "There are risks and costs to a program of action, but they are far > less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction," > - JF Kennedy. > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > This message was sent to: pwere(a)cascadegl.com > Unsubscribe or change your options at > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/pwere%40cascadegl.com >

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Kenyan .ke domain
by kennedy waweru 27 Oct '09

27 Oct '09

Greetings skunks. just a quick one. Any other way you think the .ke domain should be managed to effectively brand Kenya on the internet. regards, kennedy

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Re: [kictanet] "Outsource our jobs? Why firms are afraid of BPOs"
by Edith Adera 27 Oct '09

27 Oct '09

Michael, >From the article, it's clear that the sector has a long way to go! I recall during the BPO workshop at KICC, Dr Ndemo pledged to host a local workshop to bring stakeholders together (including these firms) to discuss these issues and explore how trust can be built to outsource to local BPO firms. The time is ripe. Edith

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Fw: press invite - kenya economic report 2009 launch
by alice munyua 27 Oct '09

27 Oct '09

-----Original Message----- From: nmathu(a)treasury.go.ke Date: Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:32:02 To: <nickwaitathu(a)financialpost.co.ke> Subject: press invite - kenya economic report 2009 launch Dear Partner, RE: THE KENYA ECONOMIC REPORT 2009 LAUNCH The Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) and the Ministry of State for Planning, National Development & Vision 2030 cordially invite you to the Launch of the inaugural edition of the Kenya Economic Report (KER) 2009 on Wednesday 28th of October 2009 at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies starting at 9:00am. The Kenya Economic Report will be published annually and will primarily focus on the economic performance of the country over the previous one year and prospects for the following three years. The report, produced by KIPPRA in consultation with the Ministry of State for Planning, National Development & Vision 2030, Ministry of Finance and Central Bank of Kenya, shall be laid before the National Assembly by the Minister for Planning, National Development & Vision 2030. You are cordially invited to attend and cover this function. Nancy Mathu PRO

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Re: [kictanet] [Skunkworks] Safaricom to introduce unlimited internet service
by Walubengo J 26 Oct '09

26 Oct '09

very interesting analysis...@200ksh unlimited internet gives you 6,000Ksh per month as some of you noted - almost 100USD per month. Almost like in the US -BUT the US GDP per capita is about 50times higher than .KE. So we must adopt some weighting to get the equivalent pricing in kenya. Put in another way, Kenyans should work towards 50x less the US monthly rates (of 100USD) for broadband internet i.e. 2USD per month for unlimited broadband internet. It wont happen tomorrow, maybe 2030? But am glad the operators are tweaking all possible combinations as the 1st step in seeing how to move in that direction... walu. --- On Sun, 10/25/09, Bernard Mwagiru <bmwagiru(a)gmail.com> wrote: From: Bernard Mwagiru <bmwagiru(a)gmail.com> Subject: Re: [Skunkworks] Safaricom to introduce unlimited internet service To: "Skunkworks Forum" <skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke> Date: Sunday, October 25, 2009, 12:55 PM Thats Kbps not KBps... ./bernard On Sun, Oct 25, 2009 at 11:50 AM, Bernard Mwagiru <bmwagiru(a)gmail.com> wrote: My peak is approx 260KBps. Average 140 KBps... However, I don't doubt the capacities provided by the submarine fiber cables...Thats no longer a constraint now....My biggest worry is at the radio interface. The biggest bottleneck in any GSM/UMTS network is at the BTS/Node B level...You can have STM-1 capacities on the transmission but the bandwidth in the wireless medium diminishes exponentially as the number of users per cell increases. Also voice is always given a priority so again this should add to the congestion(remember the free calls ?) Also, there's no info on how long this promo is(or whether it is a promo)... ./bernard On Sun, Oct 25, 2009 at 11:35 AM, Dennis Kioko <dmbuvi(a)gmail.com> wrote: 10 gigs at what rate Bernard? I think they now have extra bandwidth on Teams, hence the unlimited product. -- with Regards: Get your free technology e-magazine in pdf format: Tekniaonline: http://bit.ly/tekniaonline-2 Maybe we should start a Reality show of collapsing buidlings: http://gramware.blogspot.com _______________________________________________ Skunkworks mailing list Skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------ Skunkworks Rules http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke Other lists ------------- Announce: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks-announce Science: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/science kazi: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/admin/kazi/general -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ Skunkworks mailing list Skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------ Skunkworks Rules http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke Other lists ------------- Announce: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks-announce Science: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/science kazi: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/admin/kazi/general

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"Outsource our jobs? Why firms are afraid of BPOs"
by michael Ouma 26 Oct '09

26 Oct '09

Hi all: kindly follow this link for the article from the interview we did: "Outsource our jobs? Why firms are afraid of BPOs" http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/-/2558/676830/-/qxo0jiz/-/index.html Michael Ouma Journalist Nairobi, Kenya Tel: +254-725-537823 / +254-0731-201729 Email: benomnta(a)yahoo.com "There are risks and costs to a program of action, but they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction," - JF Kennedy.

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Unified Communications
by Zachary Ochieng 26 Oct '09

26 Oct '09

Dear listers, Kindly follow this link for a story on unified communications. http://www.cio.co.ke/index.php/view-all-main-stories/313-coming-together-.h… Have a great week. Best, Zachary. --- Be the change you want to see in the world.

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CCK named African regulator of the year
by alice＠apc.org 26 Oct '09

26 Oct '09

CCK named African regulator of the year BY EVELYNE NJOROGE Updated 3 hours 7 minutes ago CAPE TOWN, Oct 24- The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) is this year's winner of the African Infrastructure Regulator of the Year Award. CCK was declared the winner by the investment communications group, Africa Investor in Cape Town, South Africa, at a ceremony attended by venture capitalists, developers, and infrastructure experts and policy makers. "We are delighted with the award, which goes to show that our efforts to promote an excellent and stable investment climate in communications industry in the country are being noted as progressive and exceptional", said CCK Director General Charles Njoroge of the award. He attributed the recognition to their policy of having consultations before making any major decision that affects the industry. Mr Njoroge called on investors in the Information and Communications Technology industry to take advantage of the stable regulatory climate and improved infrastructure to set up businesses in the country. "The country's broadband infrastructure offers investors tremendous opportunities for their businesses and we expect to see more investments in all facets of the economy that will be driven by the available reliable connectivity," he said. http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/business/Kenyabusiness/CCK-named-African-regulat… CCK won the award for its role in seeking to develop regulations that are aimed at alleviating poverty and improving the investment climate in partnership with the private sector. "Through infrastructure investment, the private sector operating in Africa has established itself as a critical development partner," said Africa Investor's Vice Chairman Hubert Danso while presenting the award. CCK beat its counterparts in Nigeria (Nigeria Communications Commission -NCC) and South Africa (Independent Communications Authority of South Africa -ICASA) that had also been short listed for the award. Other award category winners included Africa Development Bank as the Sponsor of the Year Award, and the Industrial Development Corporation, which won the award in the Developer of the Year category. The Power Deal of the Year award went to Exxaro, while Nedbank Capital took Transport Deal of the Year Award, and Rand Merchant Bank led the way with Social Infrastructure Deal of the Year.

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Re: [kictanet] kictanet Digest, Vol 29, Issue 60
by Herbert Nyukuri 26 Oct '09

26 Oct '09

Kudos to CCK for this milestone. How I wish that one will wake up tomorrow and see this splashed as headline news in our Kenyan dailies and TV channels, instead of the usual not-so-helpful politicking. Herbert --- On Sun, 10/25/09, kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke <kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote: From: kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke <kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: kictanet Digest, Vol 29, Issue 60 To: herbertwamalwa(a)yahoo.com Date: Sunday, October 25, 2009, 12:00 PM Send kictanet mailing list submissions to kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke You can reach the person managing the list at kictanet-owner(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of kictanet digest..." Today's Topics: 1. CCK named African regulator of the year (alice(a)apc.org) 2. IPv6 addresses: North American ISPs are now grabbing for them over IPv4 (alice(a)apc.org) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2009 05:36:55 -0000 (GMT) From: alice(a)apc.org To: kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: [kictanet] CCK named African regulator of the year Message-ID: <53253.121.160.190.161.1256449015.squirrel(a)sqmail.gn.apc.org> Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1 CCK named African regulator of the year BY EVELYNE NJOROGE Updated 3 hours 7 minutes ago CAPE TOWN, Oct 24- The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) is this year's winner of the African Infrastructure Regulator of the Year Award. CCK was declared the winner by the investment communications group, Africa Investor in Cape Town, South Africa, at a ceremony attended by venture capitalists, developers, and infrastructure experts and policy makers. "We are delighted with the award, which goes to show that our efforts to promote an excellent and stable investment climate in communications industry in the country are being noted as progressive and exceptional", said CCK Director General Charles Njoroge of the award. He attributed the recognition to their policy of having consultations before making any major decision that affects the industry. Mr Njoroge called on investors in the Information and Communications Technology industry to take advantage of the stable regulatory climate and improved infrastructure to set up businesses in the country. "The country's broadband infrastructure offers investors tremendous opportunities for their businesses and we expect to see more investments in all facets of the economy that will be driven by the available reliable connectivity," he said. http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/business/Kenyabusiness/CCK-named-African-regulat… CCK won the award for its role in seeking to develop regulations that are aimed at alleviating poverty and improving the investment climate in partnership with the private sector. "Through infrastructure investment, the private sector operating in Africa has established itself as a critical development partner," said Africa Investor's Vice Chairman Hubert Danso while presenting the award. CCK beat its counterparts in Nigeria (Nigeria Communications Commission -NCC) and South Africa (Independent Communications Authority of South Africa -ICASA) that had also been short listed for the award. Other award category winners included Africa Development Bank as the Sponsor of the Year Award, and the Industrial Development Corporation, which won the award in the Developer of the Year category. The Power Deal of the Year award went to Exxaro, while Nedbank Capital took Transport Deal of the Year Award, and Rand Merchant Bank led the way with Social Infrastructure Deal of the Year. ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2009 07:04:50 -0000 (GMT) From: alice(a)apc.org To: kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: [kictanet] IPv6 addresses: North American ISPs are now grabbing for them over IPv4 Message-ID: <54320.121.160.190.161.1256454290.squirrel(a)sqmail.gn.apc.org> Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1 IPv6 addresses: North American ISPs are now grabbing for them over IPv4 By Carolyn Duffy Marsan Created 2009-10-19 02:29PM U.S. ISPs are requesting more IPv6 [1] addresses and fewer IPv4 addresses than ever before -- a sign that carriers are investing in the future amidst one of the deepest recessions[2] in modern history. The shift in IP address requests shows that North American carriers are getting ready for the long-anticipated upgrade [3] of the Internet's main communications protocol from IPv4, the current standard, to the next-generation IPv6. [ What U.S. businesses are missing [4] in their slow move to IPv6. | Despite businesses' faint interest, the shift to IPv6 [5] is seen as an inevitable | Keep up on the latest networking news with our Technology: Networking newsletter [6]. ] IPv4 uses 32-bit addresses and can support 4.3 billion individually addressed devices on the Internet. IPv6 uses 128-bit addresses and supports an inconceivably huge amount of devices: 2 to the 128th power. IPv6 also offers built-in security and enhanced network management features when compared to IPv4, which is expected to run out [7] of address space by 2012. In the first nine months of 2009, the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN [8]) received 300 requests from carriers for blocks of IPv6 address space. This compares to 250 requests received in all of 2008 and 2007. "We're seeing an uptick in IPv6 address space requests; it's a very significant growth rate," says John Curran, president and CEO of ARIN. "We've seen a slight slowdown in IPv4 address space requests?It's probably dropped off 10 percent or 20 percent year over year." Curran says ARIN is beginning to see ISPs such as Comcast [9] and Verizon Wireless [10] put a great deal of effort into migrating from IPv4-based networks to those built using IPv6. "ISPs are asking for IPv6 addresses so they can make their networks IPv6-enabled so they are ready [for the future]," Curran says. "We give each ISP enough IPv6 addresses to support 4 billion networks, and each network can contain trillions and trillions of hosts." Curran says the recession is not hampering carriers' interest in IPv6. "IPv6 solves a problem that hasn't happened yet. So seeing any demand is surprising, and it means that organizations are planning ahead," Curran says. "The current weakness in the economy?is not dampening down IPv6 demand significantly because IPv6 is right around the corner for ISPs. We may be two years away from the IPv4 free pool of addresses running out, but two years if you're an ISP is enough time to get one network deployed. Two years is within everyone's planning horizon." ARIN will detail the latest statistics about IPv6 address demand in North America at a policy meeting [2] that will be held this week in Dearborn, Mich. ARIN also will discuss several proposed policy changes related to IPv4 depletion and the push towards IPv6 adoption. These include: * Allowing ARIN to https://www.arin.net/policy/proposals/2009_8.html [11] ">reduce the size of IPv4 address space allocations to carriers as the industry gets closer to IPv4 address depletion. * Increasing access to IPv6 [12] address space by removing the requirement for carriers to first demonstrate that they have hundreds of customers. * Allowing carriers to run multiple, discrete IPv6 networks [13] that don't have to be connected to each other, such as community networks. * Reconsideration of a current policy that requires the regional registries including ARIN to evenly divide up any IPv4 space [14] they are able to recover. ARIN will hold elections at this meeting for several open board of trustees and advisory council openings. * Networking * IPv6 * Internet ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet End of kictanet Digest, Vol 29, Issue 60 ****************************************

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