Agilent Technologies' New IPv6 Routing Test Equipment Successfully Validates Emerging Internet Protocol

RouterTester 900's New Application Enables Faster Test Cycles, Meets QoS Requirements for IPv6 Interoperability at Multi-Vendor Test Event

DURHAM, N.H., Moonv6 Test Event, Oct. 20, 2003

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced a new routing emulation application for its RouterTester 900 tester that has successfully identified and solved IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) implementation issues. Agilent was instrumental in helping over 25 major equipment vendors, network operators and branches of the U.S. military at the Moonv6 Test Event to test interoperability, speed test cycles and meet QoS requirements for IPv6 technology and network equipment.

IPv6 is the next-generation protocol defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) to replace the current version of Internet Protocol, IP version 4 (IPv4). Most users of the Internet today currently use IPv4. Due to shortages in addressing space and the requirements of emerging mobile services, a next-generation protocol is needed that can create almost limitless address space, ease network configuration and management, as well as provide security and scalability. The gradual migration of IPv4 to IPv6 means that network equipment must support both traffic types and protocols simultaneously -- as well as mechanisms to transition seamlessly between the two infrastructures -- while also meeting QoS guarantees. Testing whether a device or network can manage and scale both technologies at once is critical prior to deployment.

By integrating routing emulation for OSPFv3, BGP4+, IS-ISv6 and RIPng with IPv6 traffic generation and analysis, RouterTester 900 users can now simulate large IPv6 and IPv4 networks while simultaneously generating traffic from multiple simulated network devices. This enables network equipment manufacturers and service providers to verify the stability of their IPv6 devices and networks in a dual stack protocol environment.

A key feature of RouterTester 900 is its groundbreaking multi-encapsulation auto-detection, which enables simultaneous performance measurement of mixed traffic types (such as IPv6, IPv4, and IPv6 over IPv4) on each port by automatically detecting each packet's test payload offset.

"Measuring the latency and loss of IPv6 and IPv4 streams simultaneously is a key test for network transition scenarios," said Ben Schultz, managing engineer, UNH InterOperability Lab. "One of the goals of Moonv6 is to demonstrate the resiliency and reliability of dual stack protocol operation."

"IPv6 interoperability testing is critical for the deployment of IPv6 to provide stable and interoperable implementations", said Jim Bound, chair, North American IPv6 Task Force, chair, Ipv6 Forum Technical Directorate, and Hewlett-Packard fellow. "The Moonv6 network pilot across the U.S., based at the University of New Hampshire, will expedite the adoption of IPv6 in the market for use on production networks."

Moonv6 Information:

Spanning multiple locations across the USA, the Moonv6 project (www.moonv6.com) is a collaborative effort between the North American IPv6 Task Force (NAv6TF), the University of New Hampshire - InterOperability Lab (UNH-IOL), various US Department of Defense (DoD) agencies, and Internet2 (I2). IPv6 adoption is being fuelled by the looming IPv4 address shortage, new applications (such as multicast-based streaming video), EU legislation, and DoD mandate. More information is available at www.iol.unh.edu.

Pricing and Availability

The Agilent E7885A IPv6 Routing Emulation application is available for order at a list price of US$10,580. More information on Agilent's IPv6 product is available at www.agilent.com/comms/routertester.

Product photos are available at www.get.agilent.com/press/index.cgi?PSP_NEXT=ShowPR&Release:release_id=5262

About Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) is a global technology leader in communications, electronics, life sciences and chemical analysis. The company's 35,000 employees serve customers in more than 110 countries. Agilent had net revenue of $6 billion in fiscal year 2002. Information about Agilent is available on the Web at www.agilent.com.

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