SAN JOSE, Calif., March 24, 2004 - Cisco Systems, Inc., announced it has demonstrated Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) readiness in the second phase of the "Moonv6" next-generation Internet testing project hosted at the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) in Durham, NH, and at the Department of Defense's Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) site.

Cisco Systems provided its Cisco 12400 Series Router, Cisco 7301 and Cisco 7200 Series Routers, Cisco Catalyst 6500 and 3700 Series switches, and the Cisco MR3200 Mobile Router to validate the reliability and interoperability of IPv6 networking hardware and software.

Moonv6 is a nationwide IPv6 test bed backed by the North American IPv6 Task Force, Internet2, the U.S. Department of Defense, the UNH-IOL and major networking, testing and communications companies. The testing addressed aspects of the IPv6 protocol key to widespread deployment of the new technology. The testing addressed aspects of the IPv6 protocol key to widespread deployment of the new technology, including:

• network routing protocols;
• applications;
• security and
• transition mechanisms.

"Cisco continues to deliver new and enhanced support for IPv6 features on its routing and switching platforms," said John Braskamp, senior director of marketing at Cisco Systems. "Interoperability testing on this scale will only help to accelerate the transition to the next-generation of Internet applications. As part of the Moonv6 testing, Cisco is working collaboratively with our customers worldwide to test and deploy IPv6 as it would be applied in real-world environments."

The world's largest multi-vendor IPv6 network, Moonv6 was launched in October of last year to advance the new protocol and promote adoption throughout the industry. IPv6 is expected to gradually replace the current Internet protocol (IPv4) over the next eight to ten years. This latest test event gauged both simultaneous and fully native IPv6 effectiveness, because the two protocols will coexist during the transition.

"The NAv6TF vision for the development of Moonv6 is to eventually create a Native IPv6 backbone peering that will, in time, permit production services as new applications develop and entice markets to come to the Moonv6 evolution," said Jim Bound, chair of the North American IPv6 Task Force (NAv6TF) and chair of the IPv6 Forum Technical Directorate.

About Moonv6

The Moonv6 project is a collaborative effort between the North American IPv6 Task Force, (NAv6TF), the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL), Internet2, the Joint Interoperability Testing Command (JITC) and various other U.S. Defense Department agencies. Taking place across the U.S. at multiple locations, the Moonv6 project represents the most aggressive collaborative IPv6 interoperability and application demonstration event in the North American market to date. For more information, visit the organization's Web site at http://www.moonv6.org.