After discussing recent U.S. Government mandates ordering vendors to make the switch to an IPv6 platform by summer of 2008 during a webinar with TMCnet, MERA Systems (News - Alert) has the opportunity to answer questions that have been streaming in from interested vendors looking to smooth the transition to compliance.

 

This requirement is expected to boost IPv6 deployment in coming years with Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is designed as the successor of IPv4, the current version of the Internet Protocol, for general use on the Internet.

 IPv6 that is gradually replacing IPv4 worldwide fixes a number of problems in its predecessor, such as lack of IP addresses, routing and network autoconfiguration. However, today’s networks are not ready to leap to the new version right away and IPv6 transition is seen as a serious technical issue that needs immediate attention.

 

This has fueled  discussions on what impact IPv6 will have on carriers’ VoIP networks since VoIP, being an IP-based technology, uses IPv4 to send voice conversations as data packets over Internet. The two protocols will coexist for many years but the sooner VoIP service providers find out about IPv6 advantages the more their networks can benefit from the innovation. 
 

Below are questions the company received after it hosted the event.

 

Q: What is IPv6 and how does it effect the world of VoIP?

 

A: IPv6 is a new version of the Internet protocol that is now becoming more and more popular. With the current version of the Internet protocol we are very close to the exhaustion of IP addresses. IPv6 solves this and many other problems of its predecessor. This will have a significant impact for VoIP. For instance, a typical problem of a VoIP call in current IPv4 world is NAT traversal. Another problem is peer-to-peer models (such as Skype (News - Alert)), where it is very difficult for the peers to learn how to establish direct communication with each other without the help of a central server. IPv6 efficiently deals with these issues and is expected to boost the development of VoIP networks.

 

Q: When do you expect IPv6 to completely supplant IPv4?

 

A: Current estimations are that IPv4 pool of addresses will reach its exhaustion by 2010 or 2011. But the complete transition is not likely to happen in the foreseeable future. During the webinar we cover the transition mechanisms that network hosts would need to use to reach the IPv6 Internet over the IPv4 infrastructure at early stages of transition. It will definitely take time for those mechanisms to be implemented. However, it doesn’t mean network hosts should be careless about the issue. IPv6 offers great potential for VoIP networks and the earlier carriers realize it the more their networks could benefit from it.

 

Q: How exactly can carriers benefit from IPv6 transition?

 

A: The ability of IPv6 to provide each device with a dedicated globally reachable IP address gives a lot of opportunities for VoIP. IPv6 helps VoIP carriers reach scalability, end-to-end interworking, QoS and commercial-grade robustness. IPv6 deals with NAT problems and it has inbuilt support for IPSec protocol, aimed to encrypt all packets to provide for greater information security. Some people even think that VoIP on IPv6 will be able to replace current TDM networks by eliminating advantages that TDM networks have over VoIP. In our webinar we stress IPv6 advantages for VoIP carriers but we also see the new protocol as a challenge that brings a lot of pains and uncovers sharp points.

 

Q: What is the most difficult part of dealing with IPv6 transition?

 

A: As it turns out to make IPv6 network up and running at the moment is not an easy matter. Even though many software products on the market now have a label “IPv6 ready” in practice it appears that there is a huge difference between “supports IPv6” and “actually works with IPv6”. It makes sense to just give time to the new standard and more and more devices will really work with IPv6. But this is the main headache that we have to deal with while working on the transition to IPv6. There are also some additional IPv6 problems that we cover during the presentation but you can easily escape them if you just choose the VoIP solution that already NOW takes into account the possible changes related to IPv6.  

 

Q: What is the best technological approach of addressing IPv6 in the world of VoIP?

 

A: In our webinar we stress the idea that the softswitch concept is perfect to deal with IPv6 issues in the world of VoIP. The telecom market was actually formed by challenges like IPv6 and softswitch was specifically designed to address such challenges. Softswitch makes networks more flexible, less complicated and easy to expand. On the contrary, carriers that don’t use softswitches are more vulnerable to risks caused by major industry revolutions (we see IPv6 as one of them). The presentation leads the audience through the history of softswitch to prove that the future of VoIP also belongs to this type of software. Consequently, competitive softswitches have to meet carrier’s demand on dealing with IPv6 challenge today, and we are pleased to present MERA’s experience as an example of how the softswitch was formed and shaped by the requests of our customers.

 

Q: What do you do for your customers as a software developer to help them meet IPv6 challenge?

 

A: MERA Systems has a 15+years experience in software development. Throughout its history MERA softswitches have evolved from simple H.323 routers to sophisticated intelligent engines for effective traffic handling. We are not saying we are able to predict every business model of our customers, but we equip carriers with tools to manipulate with statistics and create their own unique patterns. Our solutions are customized individually for every client and our engineers are ready to make the product really IPv6 working.

 

Q: Whom do you recommend to download your webinar and why?

 

A: Any industry professional who cares about the future of VoIP might be interested in our presentation. But we strongly recommend VoIP carriers to download the webinar. It will help them learn how to make their business a more competitive and prosperous operation. The webinar archive is available at http://www.tmcnet.com/webinar/mera-systems/mera-systems-ipv6-in-the-world-of-voip.htm. We hope the audience find the presentation worthwhile.

 

Tim Gray is a Web Editor for TMCnet, covering news in the IP communications, call center and customer relationship management industries. To see more of his articles, please visit Tim Gray’s columnist page.

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