Case Study: Alcatel

Alcatel brings “IPv6 Ready” products to market with testing at the UNH-IOL, the industry’s leading IPv6 test house

The Challenge: Prove IPv6 implementation consistency to optimize customer service rollouts

As a leader in the development of data communications solutions, Alcatel helps telecommunication carriers, Internet service providers, MSOs and enterprises to deliver high-quality voice, data, and video applications to their customers.

Alcatel successfully leveraged its leadership in the fixed mobile and broadband network industries, to facilitate a more user-centric broadband network and to speed the migration from IPv4 to IPv6 in collaboration with its partners and customers.

Having observed the gradual yet inevitable global mobil- ization around IPv6, Alcatel wanted to illustrate the conformance and seamless interoperability of its IPv6 products.

Because the company is committed to delivering only the highest quality products, Alcatel wanted to ensure that its Alcatel 7750 Service Router (SR) would not only conform to but would exceed industry specifications and provide the highest possible levels of network availability and reliability.

Crucially, Alcatel understood the need to validate IPv6 product compliance to their customers.

To meet this need, Alcatel turned to the “IPv6 Ready Logo” testing program developed by the IPv6 Forum and administered by the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL). The IPv6 Ready Logo program provided Alcatel with a technically uncompromised and cost-effective interoperability solution that unequivocally demonstrated product functionality to the marketplace.

The Solution: “IPv6 Ready Logo” testing program administered by UNH-IOL

Utilizing a long-standing relationship with UNH-IOL in industry spaces such as Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), Alcatel looked to the UNH-IOL to test its Alcatel 7750 SR, which provides support to Alcatel’s unique continuous IPv6 routing ability, with the end goal of obtaining an IPv6 Ready Logo.

“It was a given that we would send our equipment to the UNH-IOL for testing,” said Hema Ganapathy, Director of Product Marketing for Alcatel IP Division. “It is common knowledge in the IP industry that the UNH-IOL is the most respected IPv6 interoperability testing option available.”

Given their experienced relationship with the IPv6 Forum and their work on the Moonv6 project, Alcatel relied on UNH-IOL to schedule and administer the “IPv6 Ready Logo” testing program. Alcatel’s 7750 SR met and exceeded the conformance and interoperability specifications outlined in the IPv6 Ready Logo test plans. As a result of testing with the UNH-IOL, the Alcatel 7750 SR now carries a visible Phase I IPv6 Ready Logo, providing Alcatel’s customers with credible, external validation.

The Results: Alcatel enhances customer confidence with “IPv6 Ready Logo”

The UNH-IOL provided Alcatel with comprehensive, in-depth analysis of the Alcatel 7750 SR and compiled the results in extensive reports detailing the testing process. The product now joins the Alcatel 7670 Routing Switch Platform (RSP) in attaining the Phase 1- IPv6 Ready Logo. The lab’s experience and technical expertise eased the “IPv6 Ready” certification process and enhanced market adoption of Alcatel’s product.

“UNH-IOL’s testing was extremely thorough,” said Ganapathy. “The detailed test reports provided to us after the test process certainly act as a beneficial marketing tool that inspires confidence in the end-user.”

Alcatel has satisfied its customers’ need for external validation of the interoperability and conformance capabilities of the Alcatel 7750 SR. In attaining the Phase I- IPv6 Ready Logo, Alcatel has positioned itself for the future network build-outs of its customers.

Through its work with the IP testing group and its continued relationship with the lab, Alcatel has leveraged the UNH-IOL’s reliability and trusted reputation as an unbiased testing facility.

“Working with the UNH-IOL certainly strengthened our customer traction and garnered heavy interest from our Asian market where IPv6 is more established,” Ganapathy said. “Alcatel also demonstrated its continued innovation with support for non-stop routing for IPv6 based services. Having our product tested with the UNH- IOL provides our customers with the assurance that our products have comprehensive support for IPv6.”