NAIROBI — Kenya will migrate to a new Internet Protocol (IPv6) in July as the country seeks to leverage new frontiers that include artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, the Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) said Tuesday.
The industry regulator said in a public notice that Kenya would upgrade from the current IPv4 to IPv6, consequently, it would not allow devices that do not have the new protocol into the market.
These include laptops, mobile phones, tablets, and desktop computers.
“Should Kenya delay in the full adoption of IPv6, then serious technological challenges may befall the country’s information and communication technology sector, including lack of access to the internet for new devices that will not have IPv6 addresses due to exhaustion, and a lag in technological advancements due to inability of the country to leverage new frontiers like the Internet of Things,” said the regulator.
Internet protocol refers to a suite of rules and requirements for routing and addressing data on the internet.
IPv6, said CA, will create a sufficient internet protocol address pool for use by persons, as well as machines, facilitating the Internet of Things networks.
It noted that all internet connecting devices in Kenya would, thus, be required to have IPv6 capability for them to be cleared for marketing and use in the country.
The initial set of IPv4 addresses was developed in the early 1980s. – Xinhua