Transition to IPv6: Why Have Networks Not Moved?

In recent times, operators of mobile telecommunication and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have begun the transition to IPv6 in response to the high demand for Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. Internet Protocol is the primary layer of the OSI Network Model and its task is to send packets from a source computer to a destination computer. In most operating systems and application software, IPv6 is now embedded in it. IPv6 is also brought into effective action by most ISP backbone networks. Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) proposed IPv6 the next generation IP in the prime stages of 1990 and it is now ready for its implementation. IPv6 is intended to take the place of IPv4.With the advent of IPv6, as it was in IPv4, middle-boxes are needed to handle and protect their network resources effectively.

This paper seeks to investigate the reason(s)why operators of mobile telephony and the ISPs in Ghana have not moved their IP networks from Internet Protocol version 4 (abbreviated IPv4) to Internet Protocol version 6 (abbreviated IPv6).