WIT research group meets with Minister of State John Browne in Brussels
04-32-2004
By: Miguel Ponce de Leon
The TSSG in Europe:
Brussels, January 2004
The ability for every electronic device to have its own unique Internet address opens up endless possibilities for manufacturers and consumers." - John Browne TD, Irish Minister of State for Communication, Marine & Natural Resources, speaking at the launch of the IPv6 research network.
Before his keynote speech in Brussels at a recent event launching the world's first all IPv6 research network, Diarmuid McIntyre and Miguel Ponce de Leon of the Applied Research and Innovation Division of the Telecommunications Software & Systems Group (TSSG) at Waterford Institute of Technology were given the opportunity to discuss its research goals for IPv6 and Wireless Mobility in Ireland with Irish Minister of State for Communication, Marine & Natural Resources John Browne TD.
Also in attendance at this meeting were Aidan Ryan, senior advisor from the Department of Communications, Marine & Natural Resources (DCMNR) Business and Technology Division, Majella O'Dea, Irish ICT Attach to the EU, and John Boland, Chief Executive of HEAnet.
An informal overview of the work being carried out by the TSSG, including its bid to become the National Telecommunications Services Research Centre through Science Foundation Ireland was presented.
John Browne TD noted: The deployment of IPv6, with its limitless supply of individual Internet addresses is a key enabling factor in the development of new services and technologies.
Internet Protocol version 6, or IPv6 for short, is the proposed new standard designed to supersede IPv4, the protocol or set of rules for communication, which is used today on the Internet. Currently IPv4 serves what could be called the computer market, the driving force behind the growth of the Internet. IPv6 is designed to be the evolutionary step forward to provide a platform for the new Internet functionality that will be required in the near future. This week's article from the TSSG explains the new requirements for IPv6 in detail.
Critical wireless research enabled by IPv6
IPv6 provides a critical component of an ambitious EUR20 million wireless testbeds project called CREATION, which is being co-ordinated by the Telecommunications research group at WIT.
CREATION will allow for the testing of native IPv6 mobile applications and services on multiple locations, across 15 countries and 5 continents and includes Intel, ETSI, Hewlett Packard, Telecom Italia and NTT amongst its 30 partners.
The challenge is to work with a protocol that meets today's requirements and also matches the requirements of the emerging markets, said Diarmuid McIntyre, European Research Manager at the TSSG and the co-ordinator of the CREATION research project.
IPv6's emphasis on Mobility, Security, Quality of Service, and the critical ability to individually address devices operating across different access technologies such as 3G, or Wi-fi, help us to meet the research and testing demands of the next generation of application developers says Mr. McIntyre.
Miguel Ponce de Leon, another driving force behind the CREATION project described how he regards the research work of the TSSG as a contributing driver to Ireland's productivity, and competitiveness.
CREATION plans to deliver a wireless research network of secured, interconnected 3G and Beyond test beds for the real and rapid interoperability, conformance testing, and validation of wireless and mobile applications and services.
The need for Third Generation (3G) and beyond mobile communication is best described in terms of the mobility and bandwidth (the amount of data your phone can handle at one time) that it offers. Fixed networks offer low mobility but with high bandwidth, second generation (2G) mobile networks offer high mobility but low bandwidth, GPRS (2.5G) vastly improved this with higher data rates but 3G will offer far superior data rates of up to 2Mbs for indoor users and 384Kbs for pedestrians. 3G basically combines the best of both worlds offering high mobility and at the same time offering high bandwidth. In marketing terms this is referred to as anytime, anywhere.
The value of this research is not lost on the Minister-of-State Mr Browne who said that, Every effort should be taken to ensure that the advantages of the information superhighway are available in a mobile environment. Full Internet connectivity needs to be deployed on advanced mobile platforms, local area networks, broadcasting and other wireless test beds. A key element in the successful take up of mobile Internet will be the development and testing of IPv6 infrastructures in the mobile environment.
With responsibility for deploying the first IPv6 connectivity service in Ireland, the Higher Education Academic Network (HEAnet) plays a critical role in delivering an IPv6 connectivity point for such an ambitious wireless infrastructure project out of Waterford.
Getting devices to talk to each other
A commonly held concern at the TSSG is that due to the size and scale of the new emerging markets, it is probable that they will each develop their own protocols, perhaps proprietary. If this happens then these new protocols would not interoperate with each other i.e. your phone could not talk to your fridge, or your DVD player/recorder and the opportunity to create an immense, interoperable, world-wide information structure with open protocols would be lost.
"The alternative to IPv6 is a world of disjointed networks with protocols controlled by individual vendors and we are working hard to avoid this", says Miguel Ponce de Leon of the TSSG.
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