IN FULL SUPPORT: Molale

Botswana Information Technology Society (BITS) in collaboration with BotswanaPost this week conducted a three-day information technology course termed Internet Protocol Version 6 or IPv6 that ended yesterday (Thursday).
The training was hailed by the Permanent Secretary to the President Eric Molale who assured the two organisations on Monday that they have government’s support in the development of the IT industry in the country. He said the government of Botswana recognises the value of ICT in driving the country’s development.

“The national information and communication technology policy (maitlamo) was approved in 2007. Amongst the seven key programmes of maitlamo is e-government where we are looking at the use of information technology to support government operations, engage citizens, and provide public services in a more efficient and transparent manner,” Molale said at the official opening of the training on Monday.
The training, according to organisers, is aimed at ICT professionals from Botswana and the SADC region to build capacity with respect to IPv6 and to make sure that Botswana is ready for the switch over.

The current system of allocation for Internet addresses called IP version 4 or IPv4 has been in use since the birth of the Internet. These IP addresses are bordering on depletion and as such there is need to move to a new system of allocation called Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6), which has more IP addresses than the current one.
For BITS, this is just one of the Internet Governance activities that the NGO has taken part in over the last three years.  Last year, BITS became one of the seven partner institutions worldwide that took part in a programme sponsored by EU/ACP Secretariat to train key individuals and institutions who are addressing Internet Governance (IG) and ICT policy issues at the national, regional and global levels. This programme was the first to be offered through this partnership in Botswana.

BotswanaPost, as the sponsor of the event, is the first organization to apply for and receive a block of IPv6 addresses in Botswana. The organization has identified and embraced information technology as the key driver of its new strategic direction. The company has embarked on multimillion pula projects aimed at optimizing its information technology infrastructure with the aim to meet and exceed stakeholder expectations. IPV6 is one of the many sub-projects that form part of its Information Technology infrastructure project.
The training is offered by AfriNIC, a non-governmental and not-for-profit membership-based organization composed of Network Operators and Internet Professionals from the whole African continent and guided by a self-governing principle.