Tuesday, June 19, 2012

IPv6: A 128-bit platform for innovation


Orange Uganda just announced the availability of IPv6 for their corporate customers.  While this is a huge step in the right direction, I'm here to report some even better news:

I asked the Orange executive team about their IPv6 plans during the press conference at last years Orange Expo. Aside from announcing their 2-year roll-out plan, they publicly stated that they intend to issue public IPv6 addresses to all mobile devices. I don't know how all of the journalists in the room missed this, but it didn't seem to get reported anywhere.

If Orange gives public IPv6 addresses to mobile phones, it means they can act as servers on the Internet. This could have a greater positive impact on the Internet and society than the advent of mobile Internet itself. Facebook was originally developed and hosted in a college dorm room. If mobile devices get public IPv6 addresses, the next iteration could be developed and hosted in someone's pocket in Karamoja.

That's assuming, of course, that the Internet remains neutral...