Projects

• Consultancy

  • MEWC IPv6 Transition and Migration Project

  • IPv6 Compliance Audit for Malaysian ISPs

  • IPv6 Compliance Test

• Research Projects

IPv6 Compliance Audit for Malaysian ISPs

In line with the deployment of IPv6 in Malaysia, network infrastructure will have to be IPv6 ready and compliance before any protocol transition takes place. The migration from current set of networks in our nation towards IPv6 and possibly the Next Generation Networks (NGN) in the future will have to be taken a step at a time. Network migration personnel must be wary and capable of envisioning future complications with future IP networks. Therefore it is important that the current set of networks is ensured of its capability in operating in a new IP environment such as the IPv6.

ISPs are required to be IPv6 enabled by the end of 2006 as agreed by IPv6 National Council. As the main service providers of Internet in the nation, they must be ready for the transition as early as possible. Such early preparation for transition is vital to foresee any complications that may occur in the future such as demands for services tend to grow in an exponential rate. A protocol migration of such magnitude would need a degree of preparation in terms of infrastructure and human resource.

However the primary concern at this moment would be the infrastructure compatibility and its capacity to work under the IPv6 protocol. In cases where the infrastructure fails in a commercial network, such infrastructure failure would cost an organization millions in losses. Such problems are usually difficult to diagnose or pinpoint out when the migration have been implemented. Therefore an early compliancy diagnostic (Phase 1 of the IPv6 Compliance Test) should be performed for the infrastructure before the end of the year 2008. Such tests are simple but proper, and would give system administrators a clear picture of what to do to the network at an early phase of network migration. Moreover, decision makers can estimate the amount of changes required for migration.

Malaysia’s IPv6 timeline states that tier-1 ISPs must be able to provide IPv6-based connectivity by the end of the year 2006, e-government network must be IPv6 enabled by the end of the year 2008, and the entire nation must be IPv6 enabled by the end of the year 2010. Thus, National Advanced IPv6 Centre (NAV6) has been appointed as auditors by Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC). The IPv6 ISP audit exercise performed by NAV6 is to analyze the readiness of tier-1 ISPs in phase 1 of the IPv6 Compliance Test. There are three (3) phases of the IPv6 Compliance Test for the ISPs. The first phase of the IPv6 Compliance Test for the ISPs was carried out on the 27th March 2007. The Plan for Phase 2 & 3 of the IPv6 Compliance Test is as follows; Phase 2 of the IPv6 Compliance Test is to be done by December 2007, and Phase 3 of the IPv6 Compliance Test is to be done by March 2008.