Yusuke Aoyama
IPv6style
The number of products approved for the Phase-2 IPv6 Ready Logo surpasses the 50 product mark
According to the IPv6 Forum/IPv6 Ready Logo Committee, it was confirmed that the number of products approved for the Phase-2 IPv6 Ready Logo exceeded 50 in early June 2006.
That means that it took a year and two months to reach 50 approvals since the first product was approved for the Phase-2 IPv6 Ready Logo in April 2005. Although it took longer than Phase-1, which had approved more than 100 products within the first year, the number of approved products has been accelerating since the beginning of 2006. Also, when looking at the number of approved products by country, Japan still has a runaway lead, with the US coming in second.
Also, the test specifications were updated as necessary each time the IPv6 specifications were changed. However, this can lead to uncertainty in terms of which specifications products approved in the past are compatible with.
So, the IPv6 Ready Logo Committee decided to clarify how they manage changes to the test specifications, and to re-evaluate the specifications every six months. From now on, it will be clearly stated as to which revision the product approval is based on.
In addition, the very first major revision update under this new management system was made this July. They say that with this update, the test specifications for the core protocols for Phase-1 and Phase-2, which were separate before, are now completely integrated into one.
IPv6 Ready Logo helps spread IPv6 by improving quality
An essential issue for propagating a new technology is how you promote its high reliability to users. The IPv6 Ready Logo Program aims to inform users on the interoperability among IPv6 products by branding IPv6-ready products that they tested and cleared with an approval logo.
They started approving products for Phase-1 in September 2003 and Phase-2 in February 2005. Phase-1 certified that the product was compatible with IPv6 at a basic level and aimed to make sure the IPv6 features functioned without failure. Phase-2 goes further and certifies IPv6 compatibility at a practical level; in addition to IPv6 features functioning without problems, it requires better product quality that can handle real-world network setups.
In other words, Phase-1 required meeting the IPv6 specifications, which deal with interconnectivity; however, in addition, Phase-2 puts its focus on quality for professional use.
SIP and DHCPv6 testing will also be included in order to support business use
It has been more than one year since Phase-2 started approving products, and the demands towards IPv6 technology are becoming more diversified. There are also changes in terms of needed features due to things such as the expansion of its business use by companies and IP telephones becoming widespread.
So, the IPv6 Ready Logo Committee decided, in a meeting held in April by the key members, that they are going to also include SIP and DHCPv6 testing. They are currently working on the test specifications.
SIP is considered to be the next-generation standard for IP telephony since it was adopted as a standard protocol for NGN. However, at this point, since implementations vary among vendors, there is not enough interconnectivity. Although auto-configuration of IP addresses by RA is common when using IPv6, using DHCPv6 makes it possible not only to centrally manage addresses but also to provide information about servers, such as DNS or SIP.
According to Prof. Hiroshi Esaki, University of Tokyo, who is the chairman of the IPv6 Ready Logo Committee, “In order to further expand IPv6 business in the future, it is necessary to support SIP and DHCPv6.”
Yokogawa Electric, Yaskawa Information Systems, NTT and NTT Advanced Technology are working on the test specifications for those technologies. They plan to start the official approval program and release the test application as early as the end of 2006.
Products are finally approved for Mobile IPv6 Ready Logo
For the Phase-2 logo, it is possible to obtain it not only for the core protocols but also for the combination of the core protocols and extended protocols, such as IPsec, MIPv6, MLD, Management, etc. However, up until now, all the approved products were either for the core protocols only or the core protocols and IPsec.
However, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd India was certified for the MIPv6 Ready Logo in April 2006, and NTT was certified for it in May 2006. Also, the WIDE project’s USAGI project is currently under inspection and once it is approved, all the elements that make up Mobile IPv6, which are Mobile Node, Home Agent and Correspondent Node, will have the Ready Logo.
Obtaining the Phase-2 logo means MIPv6 support is no longer at the experimental level but at the product level; it could also mean that the logo holder is announcing their intention to produce a product or provide a service that uses MIPv6.
Indeed, an increase in activities that look related to new businesses using MIPv6 can be seen, e.g. Samsung started an IEEE802.16 based service in South Korea, and NTT has applied for a WiMAX business license.
