News Release

October 5, 1999

THE TAHI PROJECT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Yuzo Sakumae

Marketing Dept.

Yokogawa Digital Computer Corp.

TEL: 042-333-6203

Email: sakumae@ydc.co.jp

FIRST COMMERCIAL IPv6 INTEROPERABILITY TEST EVENT WAS HELD

WITH 17 ORGANIZATIONAL PARTICIPANTS

The TAHI Project held the IPv6 Interoperability Test Event 1999 for six days from September 26 through October 1 at Mita, Tokyo. Seventeen organizations from both Japan and overseas participated in the Event to perform the IPv6 conformance test and the interoperability test. In the US, IPv6 verification and evaluation activities are carried out by IOL (InterOperability Laboratory). In the TAHI Project, the activities are more centered on the commercial level.

The TAHI Project is a joint effort formed by both academic and industrial organizations with the objective of developing and providing verification technology for IPv6, the Internet Protocol of the next generation. It is headed by Hiroshi Esaki, Associate Professor at the Information Technology Center, The University of Tokyo.

It is, for deployment of IPv6, essential to establish verification specifications that ensure intercommunications of computers and network equipment implemented with IPv6 and make a series of interoperability tests. At TAHI, we are working on development of an IPv6 verification and evaluation system with the purpose to establish verification specifications at the commercial level and carrying out interoperability tests, and we conducted the interoperability tests this time using the work results.

The Event consisted of three kinds of tests: the conformance test to check that the implementations brought by each participating member conform to the specifications of IPv6; the interoperability test to check interoperability with equipment implemented using KAME's* reference code in model networks; and the interoperability test in free environments.

Noting the fact that the seventeen organizations, not only from inside but also from outside the country, participated in the Event, it is not exaggerating to say that high expectations are placed on IPv6 as the most viable candidate to replace the current Internet Protocol. Also, it is expected that productization of IPv6-related items will be accelerated through these events.

The TAHI Project is formed by Yokogawa Electric Corporation, Yokogawa Digital Computer Corporation and the University of Tokyo, and is engaged in the development with the support of IPA (Information-Technology Promotion Agency, Japan).

*KAME: The KAME Project, headed by Jun Murai, Professor of Keio University, is engaged in development of Basic IPv6-Compliant Software.

Participating organizations (Alphabetical order)

Overseas

3com Corporation (USA)

Cisco Systems, Inc. (USA)

Ericsson -Telebit Communications A/S (Denmark)

ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, Republic of Korea)

GIE DYADE (France)

MAG(Institut d' Informatique et de Mathématiques Appliquées de Grenoble, France)

Microsoft Corporation (USA)

Domestic

Fujitsu Ltd.

Hitachi, Ltd.

Linux v6 Users Group Japan

Matsushita Graphic Communication Systems, Inc.

NEC Corporation

NTT Software Corporation

PFU Limited

Tokyo Institute of Technology

Toshiba Corp.

Yamaha Corp.