JGN IPv6 Network

To cope with the various problems arising from Internet protocol such as scarcity of IP addresses in the Internet and increase in the number of paths, research and development has been conducted on IP version 6 (IPv6) as a next generation Internet technology. Telecommunications Advancement Organization (TAO) has upgraded Japan’s nation-wide Gigabit Network (JGN: Japan Gigabit Network) to be compatible with IP version 6 (IPv6) as a wide-area network that can accommodate next generation Internet technologies of a world class. That is, access points capable of providing IPv6 services are deployed in 47 locations across Japan including 28 router installation sites. With this deployment, an IPv6 network has been developed enabling the execution of various verification and operation experiments, such as early transition of the network from IPv4 to IPv6 and the debagging of developed products in order to be compatible with IPv6. In addition, IPv6 interoperability evaluation laboratories have been set up in Okayama and at Makuhari (branch office) to execute the verification of interoperability between systems for current IPv6-compatible router equipments, and an IPv6 research and operation center has been set up in Tokyo (Otemachi) for developing operation and management technologies of the IPv6-compatible network equipment. This paper describes the outline of the JGN IPv6 network from several aspects: a network topology, IPv6 router equipment manufactured by multi vendors, setting up of the network such as an address space and routing, and open access points, and introduces research and development activities at the IPv6 interoperability and evaluation laboratories and the IPv6 system research and operation center that have been newly set up in constructing this network.