Columbus, Ohio (June 23, 2011) – To celebrate World IPv6 Day, OARnet and Internet2 organized the first IPv6 Megaconference and successfully connected higher education video technicians worldwide. The event was one of many activities designed to help organizations prepare for the shift to IPv6, the new Internet protocol.
"In the days leading up to the event, OARnet assisted many participants in activating or testing the IPv6 capability of their networks and endpoints for the first time," said Dr. Bob Dixon, OARnet research engineer. "This event allowed users to work out equipment problems early-on in the IPv6 switch, as well as share IPv6 software testing tools."
On June 8, more than 60 participants from 14 countries checked in and gave their name, country and equipment details. The majority of participants were from higher education national networks and schools, but LifeSize, a video communication company based in Texas, was the sole commercial participant. Those who checked in reported using equipment from a variety of vendors. Paul Hii, Monash University in Australia, and Jason Bordujenko, AARNet in Australia, hosted the event from 00:00-07:00 GMT; David Vritin, ARNES in Slovenia, hosted the event from 07:00-12:00 GMT; and Kenneth Fox and Robert Dixon, OARnet in Ohio, hosted from 12:00-24:00 GMT. Megaconference participants represented the following countries:
- Australia
- China
- Croatia
- Finland
- Germany
- Greece
- Japan
- Malaysia
- New Zealand
- Pakistan
- Portugal
- Slovenia
- United Kingdom
- United States (11 different states)
A detailed list of participants and equipment used is available here [pdf].
Because IPv6 addresses are much longer than IPv4 addresses, participants found that the current remote controls could not be used easily. Many had to connect using the web interfaces of their endpoints instead. In addition, none of the endpoints could register with the gatekeeper, which prevented them from using E.164 dialing, a scheme that would have lessened the remote control problems, Dixon said.
During the event, participants from the Western Hemisphere connected to several Internet2 multi-point control units, and those from Europe connected to the ARNES multi-point control unit. Those from Asia and Australia had no local unit to connect to and, therefore, had to connect to any one available to them. These units were then cascaded together as shown in the chart below.
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More information about World IPv6 Day can be found at www.worldipv6day.org, and information about past Megaconferences can be found at www.megaconference.org. Click here for a detailed report about this event and the challenges faced during the 2011 Megaconference.
