UNH-IOL Tests IPv6 for the Enterprise

DURHAM, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL), the networking industry’s premiere independent proving ground for new technologies, recently completed a series of multi-vendor tests that assessed how well basic enterprise networking fares on Internet protocol version 6, the next incarnation of today’s IP networking standard.

“Most issues were implementations, not the protocol, and this suggests that for common system admins there will be something of a learning curve in setting up for IPv6”

Using the Moonv6 network, the largest permanently deployed multi-vendor IPv6 network in the world, 13 companies tested networking-intensive office applications such as Adobe’s Dreamweaver and Microsoft’s MeetingPlace over the new protocol. The testing also essayed many of the essential components of basic enterprise networking, such as file sharing, printing and security. Still to be put to trial is e-mail and a greater variety of enterprise QoS and network management tools.

“Most issues were implementations, not the protocol, and this suggests that for common system admins there will be something of a learning curve in setting up for IPv6,” said Erica Johnson, IPv6 consortium manager at the UNH-IOL. “We’ve hit the core, but we’ve only scratched the surface of IPv6 for enterprise IT systems. The Moonv6 network is up 24/7 and anyone with applications can connect to it. As we keep seeing, there are always going to implementation hurdles, lessons learned, proprietary applications and devices that don’t support it yet, so the more testing, the sooner, the better.”

The list of participating companies included major enterprise IT vendors such as Adobe, Alcatel-Lucent, Command Information, Counterpath, Hewlett Packard, Hexago, Ixia, Juniper, Konica Minolta, Microsoft and Xerox.

The university lab partnered with the Waterford Institute of Technology in Ireland to extend the testing into less familiar territory. This portion of the testing focused on an innovation not possible with today’s Internet called Site Multihoming by IPv6 Intermediation, or SHIM6 for short. Of special interest in financial transactions, SHIM6 is an IPv6-only failover function that kicks in if one side of a link goes down, automatically rerouting the connection without affecting the download in progress.

IPv6 is the successor to the current IP infrastructure that underlies data in today’s Internet and enterprise networks. The new protocol greatly enlarges the pool of IP addresses needed to network new servers, laptops, phones, printers, etc. While some geographies have already run out of IP addresses, it has been predicted that North America will face IPv4 address space exhaustion between the years 2010-2012. IPv6’s increased address space is expected to make better use of emerging technology areas like VoIP, video and various interactive multimedia applications as well.

Other benefits touted for IPv6 include simplified network architecture, an increase in new services, and increased number of network nodes, built-in security, and the ability to "plug and play" devices that are IPv6 enabled. After first getting involved with the protocol in the late 1990s, the UNH-IOL has been actively testing and debugging IPv6 devices on the Moonv6 network since 2003.

About Moonv6

The Moonv6 project is a global effort led by the North American IPv6 Task Force (NAv6TF) involving the University of New Hampshire - InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL), Internet2, vendors, service providers and regional IPv6 Forum Task Force network pilots worldwide. Taking place across the United States at multiple locations, the Moonv6 project is the largest permanently deployed multi-vendor IPv6 network in the world. The U.S. Government’s Department of Defense Joint Interoperability Testing Command (JITC) and other government agencies, the Defense Research & Engineering Network (DREN) and the High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP) also play significant roles in the Moonv6 demonstrations ensuring DoD interoperability and migration objectives are identified and demonstrated.

About the University of New Hampshire - InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL)

Founded in 1988, the UNH-IOL is one of the networking industry’s premier third-party proving grounds for developing technologies. Approximately 200 companies use the UNH-IOL to extend their development and quality assurance efforts by testing and fine-tuning technologies, protocols and products for multi-vendor interoperability and conformance to standards. With more than 32,000+ sq. feet, 125 employees and millions of dollars worth of donated networking and test equipment, the UNH-IOL houses the largest heterogeneous networking test bed in North America, if not the world. For more information, visit http://www.iol.unh.edu.