From wireless edge to Internet core
“IPv6 gets real”-that’s the word from Ixia, which, with its July acquisition of VeriWave, stands poised to handle comprehensive test of IPv6-enabled devices, “from the wireless edge to the Internet core.”
In a recent phone interview, Joe Zeto, Ixia’s market development manager for wireless product lines, said the company is addressing data, voice, video, and mobile services for converged-data-center, cloud, and business customers as well as consumers. Ixia, he said, supports router and switch testing related to protocol functionality, conformance, scalability, and interoperability. He said the company also provides comprehensive data-center technology testing and can test cloud infrastructure performance, resiliency, and security, while other capabilities include multimedia service validation with respect to capacity and quality.
A key challenge, Zeto said, stems from the proliferation of wireless connectivity, with a new generation of products only able to connect wirelessly. He noted that 107 million smart phones alone shipped in the second quarter of this year, and that’s not including wireless-capable set-top boxes, DVRs, game consoles, and appliances, which are all combining to drain the pool of IPv4-supported addresses. He added that the resulting sharp rise in traffic will drive carriers to offer Wi-Fi to offload their 3G/4G networks, and he cited an ABI Research estimate that IPv6 subscriptions will reach 1 billion by year end. Practically all laptops purchased over the past six to nine months and a majority of smart phones shipping in Q2 have IPv6 stacks.
The VeriWave acquisition resulted from Ixia’s effort to increase its support for test at the wireless edge, adding VeriWave’s Wi-Fi test capabilities to Ixia’s IP, Ethernet, and LTE test capabilities. VeriWave’s products include the WaveTest 20 and WaveTest 90 traffic generator/analyzers.
Eran Karoly, formerly VP of marketing at VeriWave and now working in product management for the newly dubbed IxVeriWave product line, said during a phone interview that IxVeriWave’s WaveTest suite of testing products now supports IPv6 testing over Wi-Fi networks and access points. Targeting a new generation of WLAN infrastructure equipment, the products enable wireless service providers, equipment manufacturers, and enterprises to ensure that new offerings and network deployments are fully IPv6 compliant and backward compatible.
In a press release, Jake Woodhams, director of technical marketing at Cisco, said, “Cisco is committed to providing IPv6-capable Wi-Fi connectivity to LANs, WANs, and the Internet. Ixia’s IxVeriWave IPv6 capabilities are a timely addition to the WaveTest portfolio. We use the WaveTest system in development, QA, and marketing of our IPv6-capable Wi-Fi solutions allowing us to keep a rapid pace of innovation while maintaining our leading position in this market.” He added that tools like WaveTest give Cisco the data it needs to partner closely with customers on the migration to IPv6.
Caelyn commented:
I can't believe you're not playnig with me--that was so helpful.
