To mark World IPv6 launch day, Donald Clark, consultant to the IPv6 Taskforce, compares the level of readiness between Wellington and Auckland organisations in the following opinion piece.
IPv6 taskforce member and former REANNZ CEO Donald Clark says the majority of countries that New Zealand trades with are looking at compulsory adoption of the next-generation Internet Protocol.
Donald Clark has resigned as CEO of REANNZ, the operator of the KAREN education network.
Clark, who is the inaugrual CEO and has been with the organisation for five years, is leaving to spend more time with his children. He plans to work part time as a consultant. He will leave REANNZ in July, and says he will complete the major initiatives he is currently leading before his departure. This includes the recent RFP for international connectivity.
He has taken some steps towards establishing his own company called 1through8 (a reference to the layers in the networking 'stack') and referred Computerworld to his new website, which he says is a project he's working on in his spare time. The website includes a blog with an initial post entitled "Setting up a weightless company for under $1,000".
REANNZ board chair Professor John Raine says in the statement announcing Clark's departure: "Under Donald’s tenure, REANNZ has grown from an organisation of one employee, with no network and only a third of its required income, to a stable team of 12 that have implemented two versions of the network and have laid the groundwork that will enable KAREN to remain advanced for the coming decade."
The KAREN board is recruiting for a new CEO.
REANNZ, the organisation that runs the KAREN science and education broadband network, has revived a $15 million-or-more tendering exercise for capacity on a new trans-Pacific cable.
The Government has signaled its commitment to the Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network (KAREN) by providing additional on-going funding of $4 million a year from July 2013.