ETSI Hosts IPv6 tune-up meeting for designers

By Bernard Cole
iApplianceWeb
(08/29/02, 01:49:21 AM EDT)

Sophia-Antipolis, France - For developers thinking about shifting their Internet-centric enterprise, system and device designs to the next generation IPv6 protocol, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is hosting the third IPv6 interoperability testing event in the South of France from September 23 to 27, 2002.

The event is being organized by ETSI's Plugtests Service and provides a commercially secure environment in which engineers can meet together to share experiences, to check their implementations with others and to ensure interoperability of their products and prototypes.

For the first time in such an event, a real IPv6 environment will be available, and a permanent IPv6 link using a pan-European IPv6 network will be established with the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) in Brussels, Belgium, offering remote testing and the opportunity for companies unable to attend to participate from a distance.

Several test expert teams will also be present on site to provide the most advanced testing services to check that products are ready for the market. Teams from University of New Hampshire, Agilent, TAHI, ULB, Herve Schauer Consultant and G6TEST will provide conformance and/or interoperability testing in the following areas: the core protocol; Mobile IPv6; IPv4 to IPv6 Transition mechanisms; routing protocols and security.

The results will be forwarded to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the IPv6 Forum, ETSI and the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPPTM) for validation and fine-tuning of the protocols.

The Internet Protocol (IP) forms the basis of the Internet, and allows hosts to communicate over diverse networks. IPv6 is a protocol developed by the IETF to enhance the Internet architecture. It is intended to replace IPv4, the current version of IP, which was designed more than 20 years ago.

IPv6 provides developers, and users, with a range of new capabilities including: virtually unlimited address space; built-in mobility support; new Quality of Service guarantees for services and end users; and a common built-in security mechanism.

This IPv6 Plugtests event will be held in the Sofitel Royal Casino, in Mandelieu near Cannes in the South of France. The closing date for registration is 25 August 2002. Details and registration forms are available on the ETSI web site at: http://www.etsi.org/plugtests/02UpcomingEvents/calendar.htm.