Nigeria has inaugurated an Internet Protocol Version Six (IPv6) council saddled with the responsibility of easing the transition from IPv4 to IPv6 and Muhammed Rudman, a Board member of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), is the chairman of the council which also has the CEO of Mobile Software Solutions Limited and 2014 awardee for World Software Award for mobile content in Africa (WSA African Content), Chris Uwaje, as vice chairman.

The goal of the council is to promote deployment and coordinated uptake of the new IPv6 with support from industry, education, research communities and government agencies, enabling equitable access to technology and knowledge.

Rudman said: “The Nigeria IPv6 Council will drive the right messages to the prime stakeholders to enable IPv6 in their networks to empower the developers and the users to be at par with the rest of the world.”

The council will engage key stakeholders from government, industry and academia to design the IPv6 roadmap and vision together for Nigeria to embrace the New Internet world based on IPv6.

IPv6 Forum President, Latif Ladid, said: “The Nigeria IPv6 Council has been created to extend to the Nigerian Internet community a strong voice and representation in the new Internet world to create momentum in deploying IPv6 in the country.

“The Internet World has been using the Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) for the last two decades. Despite its tremendous success, IPv4 is showing signs of strain especially in its fast depleting IP address space and its growing security concerns. IPv6 preserves everything good in today’s Internet, and adds much more, such as virtually unlimited IP address space to connect everyone and everything, auto-configuration, seamless mobility, automated network management, end to end security and new optional service levels.”

Other members of  the board include: CEO Internet Solutions, Olusola Teniola; CEO of MainOne Cable Company, Funke Okpeke; President of the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Lanre Ajayi; President, Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), Mary Uduma; and President, Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo.