Extreme to Demo IPv6

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Extreme Networks, Inc., (Nasdaq: EXTR - News), a leader in Ethernet networking, is participating in this week's IPv6 Demonstration Collaborative Initiative in conjunction with the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Labs. Extreme Networks will supply its award-winning Ethernet switching platforms to validate the performance and interoperability of next-generation IPv6 capabilities as "ready for deployment."

IPv6 is the next generation Internet Protocol serving important needs including the ability to support a much larger IP address space for emerging communication devices on networks and to provide an enhanced infrastructure for emerging peer-to-peer applications. Organizations interested in IPv6 include government agencies, service providers, universities and commercial enterprises working on next generation Internet. As an example, in Asia, applications such as Web gaming, 3G voice networks and IP videoconferencing have come to play a much greater amount of backbone and device traffic.

The IPv6 Demonstration Collaborative Initiative, called Moonv6, will be deployed across geographically dispersed sites in North America. It will use a secure WAN environment consisting of switch, server and software platforms from multiple vendors. The tests will demonstrate the functionality of IPv6 including proper base specification, routing and mobility functions with the network infrastructure supporting DNS for IPv6, NFS, streaming media, common business applications and Web browsing.

"By implementing this wide-scale demonstration of live applications, devices and infrastructure using IPv6 technology, University of New Hampshire Interoperability Labs is illustrating IPv6 readiness and its practical implications," said Ben Schultz, managing Engineer for the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Lab. "We are pleased to include Extreme Networks as a part of this first-of-its-kind event."

Extreme Networks delivered its first IPv6 protocol-enabled software release to customers in October 2001. By working closely with early customers to implement IPv6 technology in an environment characterized by still-changing drafts, Extreme was able to deliver its complete implementation in March 2003 to its common customer base. Extreme's extensively tested and scalable IPv6 solution comes from its deep expertise with IP routing and Ethernet. IPv6 extends support for OSPFv3 and RIPng, providing inter-working and transitioning capabilities with existing IPv4 networks and experimental IPv6 networks.

Extreme Networks has made IPv6 available across its core, aggregation and edge switching platforms. Today, this supports its Inferno base of high performance solutions including the BlackDiamond®, Alpine® and Summit® switches and in the future will extend to its next-generation core platform. The BlackDiamond switching platform supports up to 16 Gigabits of pure IPv6 traffic with an IPv6 module.

10 Gigabit Scalability for IPv6

Through its unique programmability, Extreme's next-generation 4GNSS switching ASICs support IPv6 for core Ethernet deployments with 10 Gigabit scalability. This delivers robust performance even in the face of changing draft standards.

"Extreme Networks is raising the profile of IPv6 with its participation in the first true test that includes multiple vendors, devices and applications," said Duncan Potter, vice president of marketing for Extreme Networks. "We are accomplishing this by incorporating the requirements of network environments that support IPv4 and IPv6 technology, providing customers with a complete solution for a smooth migration."

Extreme Networks Inc.