September 2, 2010

French Operator Implements Cisco Carrier-Grade IPv6 Solution

Cisco has announced that Free (Iliad Group), a broadband solutions operator in France, has deployed the Cisco Carrier-Grade IPv6 Solution using Internet Protocol version 6 rapid deployment technology, also known as 6rd, allowing more than four million Free residential broadband customers to be a part of one of the world’s largest live IPv6-enabled residential Internet service deployments. 
The investment lets Free prepare for and mitigate the impending IPv4 address exhaustion, while scaling its network to address the rapid growth of Internet-connected devices.

Deploying 6rd allows service providers to offer large-scale IPv6 to customers via their existing IPv4-access network infrastructure and backend systems. The technology also significantly reduces the lead-time to IPv6 deployment for service providers while protecting their existing network investment.

In August the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) published RFC 5969, the standards track protocol specification for 6rd, paving the way for widespread adoption and interoperability.