DURHAM, N.H. -- Ixia (Nasdaq: XXIA), the leading, global provider of IP network testing solutions, demonstrated its leadership in IPv6 performance and conformance testing at a pivotal interoperability event where equipment manufacturers and ISP's came to validate complex IPv4/IPv6 topologies. Ixia achieved its early leadership position by supporting early deployments of IPv6 in the IPv4-challenged Asia-Pacific region, thus enabling its successful demonstration of mixed IPv4/IPv6 topologies at the Moonv6 interoperability event. The Moonv6 event was sponsored by one of the nation's most advanced testbeds, the University New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL). Commissioned by the Joint Interoperability Testing Command of the United States Department of Defense, this event represents the most aggressive collaborative IPv6 interoperability and application demonstration in the North American market to date.

Ixia's IPv6 solution, because of its unparalleled capability for producing in-depth result metrics, has been widely deployed in Global Enterprise Networks, and has been chosen by the world's largest network equipment manufacturers for validating their devices both in performance and conformance, including Cisco Systems, NTT, Hitachi, Nokia, etc.

"Emulation of IPv6 routing protocols and routing protocol convergence testing is important for Moonv6, as are reliable and accurate operational statistics." said Ben Schultz, managing engineer at UNH-IOL. "Successful interoperability events like these provide the necessary level of confidence for critical deployment of IPv6 technology by private industry,ISPs, and of course, by the Department of Defense itself."

Ixia's unique hardware/software IPv6 test platform integrates our Automated Network Validation Library (ANVL), which is the industry's de facto standard in conformance testing, providing extensive test coverage for IPv6 RFCs required in today's marketplace. Ixia's protocol emulations offer the most comprehensive coverage of IPv6 protocols available, providing traffic generation and analysis at wire-speed for testing dual-stack and tunnelling migration methodologies. The depth of the Ixia IPv6 test solution, as well as its remarkable scalability, make it possible to create realistic test scenarios that simulate large-scale, deployed networks. This type of real world testing is essential for validating emerging technologies like IPv6 before they are deployed in mission-critical scenarios.

"Ixia was delighted to make a significant contribution to the Moonv6 event and to the adoption of IPv6 technology in general," said Tony De La Rosa, product line director and senior technologist for Ixia. "We've been at the forefront of conformance and emulation testing for next generation protocols for quite awhile now. In fact, our IPv6 test platform won the Best of Interop Award in May 2002 at Networld + Interop for having the most comprehensive test solution available for IPv6. Naturally, we're excited to be at the forefront of this important technology transition and to work with the Moonv6 event to promote IPv6 awareness."

At Moonv6, Ixia's test platforms were used to establish mixed, multiple IPv4 and IPv6 sessions of RIP, OSPF, and BGP peers to validate the performance and interoperability of next-generation IPv6 networking hardware and software under realistic network conditions. The UNH-IOL has completed Phase I, the project's initial interoperability and test period, and the network will continue to serve as a nation-wide proving ground for use by industry, universities, research labs, Internet providers, the DoD, and other government agencies, assisting in the evolution of the next-generation Internet protocol for full, wide-scale adoption and deployment throughout North America. Phase II begins in January 2004.

IPv6 was developed to solve the world's current IPv4 routing protocol addressing scheme shortage and to improve network routing and configuration processes. IPv6 is expected to gradually replace IPv4, with the two coexisting for a number of years during a transition period. The Moonv6 Project was formed to advance the new IPv6 protocol and promote it throughout the industry.

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