SonicWALL, a provider of cutting-edge data protection and intelligent network security solutions for enterprise applications, has announced that its SonicOS 5.5.1 has been certified by the Internet Protocol version 6 Forum – or IPv6 Forum -- as being IPv6 Ready.

Accreditation of the product, intended for the company’s Network Security Appliance (NSA) firewall platform, signifies that SonicWALL (News - Alert) has managed to complete the initial phases of testing, during which interoperability with other IPv6 products is validated and protocol implementation verified.

The accreditation process consists of two phases: Phase One, which verifies minimum support for core IPv6 protocols, and Phase Two, a more extensive phase that incorporates as many as 450 unique tests. In addition, accreditation also signifies that Sonic OS 5.5.1 is interoperable with other appliances that have also been certified for IPv6. Other SonicWALL platforms that have also been IPv6 certified are the NSA 240, NSA 2400, NSA 3500, NSA 4500, NSA 5000, E5500, E6500 and E7500.

All these platforms offer users protection from enhanced denial of service or “DOS,” advanced threat detection and fully configurable access rules. SonicWALL’s IPv6 certification, combined with the recent Common Criteria EAL4+ certification, is proof of the company’s commitment to help governmental agencies and enterprises meet their security needs.

“With the explosive growth of the Internet, IPv4 is expected to be exhausted within only 18 months. SonicWALL is ahead of the curve. Our hardware firewall appliances are IPv6 Ready today to provide the networking infrastructure technologies that our enterprise and government customers can rely on for years to come,” said Patrick Sweeney, vice president of product management, SonicWALL. “Building upon the recent news that our NSA product line achieved the Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level 4+ certification, today’s IPv6 certification announcement reinforces our commitment to meet stringent international standards.”

To prepare for this eventuality, SonicWALL has engineered its hardware firewall appliances to be ahead of the curve, conforming to IPv6 standards today in order to offer networking infrastructure technologies and security that can be relied on for years to come.