Rudman offers insight on IPv6 @ DigitalSENSE forum

The Managing Director of the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) Limited, Mr. Muhammed Rudman will give some insight on Internet Protocol version Six (IPv6) at this year’s Nigeria DigitalSENSE forum scheduled for next month in Lagos.
Executive Director, DigitalSENSE Africa, the organizers of the forum, Mrs. Nkemdilim Nweke, said that the insight by Mr. Rudman is imperative following the official run-out of the Internet Protocol (IP) version 4.
She recalls that just last week, the global Internet addresses authority, Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) disposed the last two of the IPv4 to the Asia-Pacific’s Internet registry (APNIC).
Noting that IPv4 remains an integral part of the Internet since early 1980s and has continued to dwindle, which gave rise to the introduction of Internet Protocol version Six (IPv6).
Pointing out that IPv4 allows for 4.3bn unique addresses which was invariably enough 30 years ago, but is now inadequate.
Mrs. Nweke quoted the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as saying that the number of Internet subscribers grew from 250 million users 11 years ago to more than 2 billion as at the end of 2010 and is still growing daily.
She noted that Mr. Rudman would be dwelling on the ‘Internet Governance & Broadband Evolution in Nigeria – The Ipv6 Insight’ while the former president of Nigeria Internet Group (NIG) and Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem would preside at the event scheduled for March 24-25, this year at the Golden Gate Ikoyi-Lagos.
Commenting, Mr. Rudman said that for an Internet to work, an IP address has to be allocated to every user connecting to the Internet, to every server providing content on the Web, and to every device that plays a role in routing data online.
He emphasised however that a new version of IP, known as IPv6, already available is expected to increase the number of available addresses to 340 undecillion, that’s 3.4 times 10 to the power of 38.
Mr. Rudman has been the pioneer Managing Director of IXPN since its establishment in 2005
IXPN offers a private interconnect service to allow members, especially the Internet Service Providers (ISP) to have bilateral connections in a cost effective way.
Rudman is known for his passion for this exchange of which he sacrificed severally without pay for months initially and sometimes moved the network around to avoid damage and rains.
He has taken the IXPN from nothing to what some may described as profitable stage with a growing number of connections, just as plans are up to establish branches in Ibadan, Port Harcourt, Abuja, Enugu, Kano and Maiduguri as well as other states of the Federation in the near future.
IXPN has an 11-man board of directors and was founded in 2005 at the instance of the former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo after the second phase of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) in Tunisia.
In the past two editions, the likes of chairman of the pioneer Internet Service Provider, Linkserve Group, Chief Chima Apugo Onyekwere, president, ISP Association of Nigeria (ISPAN), Chief Sam Adeleke have presided over the Nigeria DigitalSENSE forum organized by Remnek Kommunications Ventures in collaboration with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) alongside other federal agencies.
Meanwhile, a Senior Teaching Fellow in International Trade Law with the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Dr. Nnaemeka Ewelukwa, has confirmed his participation at this year’s Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum (NDSF), which focus is on Internet Governance and Development in the country.
Dr. Ewelukwa’s participation would be on a paper presentation entitled ‘The Legal Framework for E-Commerce and M-Commerce in Africa: Nigeria as a Case Study.”
He indicated that within the past two decades, there has been a phenomenal increase in the electronic commerce (e-commerce) mode of transacting businesses, with billions of dollars spent online globally every year by business people that meet in cyberspace to transact in various goods or services.

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