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Burlington, MA/New Hampshire/Luxembourg,
July 15, 2005 – The IPv6 Forum
and The Open Group have announced a cooperative effort to generate consensus
between governments and industry, and deploy a global industry-wide IPv6 product
standard and formal certification program.
The program is designed to accelerate the adoption of IPv6,
the “next-generation” Internet Protocol that
offers new capabilities and addresses the fundamental limitations
of the currently used IPv4.
This effort, in response to industry demand, was formulated
by The Open Group’s Grid Enterprise Services Forum.
The forum consists of vendors, integrators and end user organizations.
The development of an industry based product standard and
certification program will lead to the production of Commercial
Off The Shelf (COTS) products that can be procured “as-is” and
are designed to be easily installed and to interoperate with
existing system components. The end user will be able to
procure IPv6 products with confidence that they meet industry
standard, will interoperate, and be easy to integrate.
Both organizations have a past history of cooperative efforts.
The Open Group is a general member of the IPv6 Forum, and
the IPv6 Forum through their NAv6TF sub-chapter, is an active
participant of The Open Group’s Grid Enterprise Services
Forum. Both organizations view the work of the Forum as complimentary
with the work of the IPv6 Forum and the NAv6TF to promote
the adoption and deployment of IPv6 technology.
“Interoperability creates genuine end-user confidence
in new technologies,” stated Latif Ladid, President
of the IPv6 Forum and Chair of the EU IPv6 Task Force. “The
objective of the joint initiative is to encourage and facilitate
the development and market availability of standards-based,
interoperable products.”
"We're very pleased to be working with the IPv6 forum
to help further the adoption of IPv6 by both industry and
governments. By combining the technical expertise of the
IPv6 forum with The Open Group's experience in industry-based
certification programs, we can help the industry deploy IPv6-based
components and systems with greater confidence," said
David Lounsbury, Vice President, The Open Group
"The evolution of the New Internet, enabled by IPv6
to restore the end-to-end Internet model, is directly proportional
to the quality of the products to support interoperability
and net centricity. This alliance between The Open Group
and the IPv6 Forum will expedite this evolution,” said
Jim Bound, CTO of the IPv6 Forum and Chair of the North American
IPv6 Task Force.
“The joint effort of The Open Group and the IPv6 Forum,
in concert with industry and governments, to develop consensus
on a global industry-based IPv6 product standard and certification
program, greatly enhances the potential of IPv6 to deliver
on its future promise of enhanced functionality and ubiquity.
The key to the success of this effort will be the active
participation of industry and governments”, said John
Spaulding, Director of The Open Group’s Grid Enterprise
Services Forum.
The IPv6 Forum will be a participant and affiliate member
of the GridES Forum acting as the IPv6 domain experts and
Specification Authority for an IPv6 certification program.
This includes standards development and providing domain
expertise to resolve any claims of inaccuracies in test
suites, ambiguities in specifications, certification problems,
and conformance test failures.
The GridES Forum will provide a vendor-, acquisition- and
technology- neutral setting to allow industry and governments
to jointly shape the future delivery of Net-Centric services
and products, including those related to the use of IPv6
components and systems.
The Open Group's GridES Forum, in cooperation with the IPv6
Forum, will create a consensus definition of the conformance
requirements for IPv6 products, documented in The Open Group
Product Standards, and then maintain and evolve these Product
Standards over time.
The Open Group will develop, operate and act as the Certification
Authority for an IPv6 certification program for these Product
Standards providing the necessary administration, auditability,
warranty provisions, and the support and execution under
the technical oversight of the GridES Forum.
Industry and government agencies are encouraged to participate
in the process of developing this industry base IPv6 product
standard. A workshop will be held this July 20 and July 21
to begin the process. Further information can be found at:
http://www.opengroup.org/gesforum/. A current agenda for
this conference can be found at http://www.opengroup.org/gesforum/doc.tpl?CALLER=index.tpl&gdid=7784
The Open Group is a vendor-neutral and technology-neutral
consortium, which drives the creation of Boundaryless Information
Flow™ that will enable access to integrated information
within and between enterprises based on open standards
and global interoperability. The Open Group works with
customers, suppliers, consortia and other standard bodies.
Its role is to capture, understand and address current
and emerging requirements, establish policies and share
best practices; to facilitate interoperability, develop
consensus, and evolve and integrate specifications and
open source technologies; to offer a comprehensive set
of services to enhance the operational efficiency of consortia;
and to operate the industry’s premier certification
service. Further information on The Open Group can be found
at http://www.opengroup.org.
Note to Editors: Boundaryless Information Flow is a trademark
of The Open Group.
The IPv6 Forum is a worldwide consortium of over 175 leading
Internet service vendors, National Research & Education
Networks (NRENs) and international ISPs. Its mission is
to promote IPv6 by improving market and user awareness,
creating a quality and secure New Generation Internet and
allowing worldwide equitable access to knowledge and technology.
The IPv6 Forum is recognized as the global domain expert
on IPv6. The North American IPv6 Task Force (NAv6TF) is
a sub-chapter of the IPv6 Forum dedicated to the advancement
and propagation of IPv6 in the North American continent.
Further information on the IPv6 Forum can be found at http://www.ipv6forum.org/ and http://www.nav6tf.org/ .
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