Project Title:
Building a Philippine IPv6 Research Network

Prepared by: Denis F. Villorente, Project Leader

Introduction: Project Abstract
The advent of the Internet opened up a rush of information exchange and knowledge sharing, initially to share computing resources between universities but nicely proved to be much more than that. This started in the late 70s but here in the Philippines adoption started only in 1993. Nevertheless, Internet usage in the Philippines now is "everywhere". The academe, government and commercial entities greatly benefit from its ubiquitous presence.

IPv6, the new Internet Protocol, was introduced in 1995, increasing the address size to 128 bits to solve address availability problems in the Internet today. It is a significant improvement to IPv4. At this point, the standard has reached maturity and new applications are just coming out or being developed. However, the Philippines had been slow to adopt this new Internet standard. Because it is a standard, everyone will have to follow it eventually. With the current showing of the Internet reception in the Philippines, we need to start building capability and the knowledge base on this standard now.

The Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI) initiated IPv6 research in the Philippines through AI3 (http://www.ai3.net). With more than a year of testing and research, the IPv6 group of ASTI is equipped with sufficient knowledge on this new protocol and hands-on experience. This project aims to initiate IPv6 usage and research in the Philippines by establishing test beds in schools particularly state universities supported by the PREGINET Infrastructure. With a test bed in place, transition mechanisms will be explored and the schools will pursue in-depth research on the protocol itself, while sustainability will be supported by PREGINET.

Project Components:

• IPv6 advocacy and awareness
• Establish IPv6 test beds
• Initiate research and development on IPv6
• Enhance local knowledge of IPv6 technologies and applications

IPv6 Advocacy and Awareness
ASTI had recently conducted a successful IPv6 workshop last February 20-21, 2003. The workshop covered IPv6 addressing, routing, and basic network services like dns, proxy, email, and web, with the participants getting a hands-on experience in setting up their own IPv6 networks and services. The workshop was attended by more than 40 participants, coming from various sectors listed as follows:

Grouping Number of Attendees
Faculty and Students 28
Industry 9
Government 5
*ASTI 4

In addition, a lecture on IPv6 was conducted at the Asia-Pacific College (APC) last 26 February 2003. Another IPv6 workshop was conducted at APC, last March 18, 19, and 22, 2003, attended by more than 50 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year Computer Network Engineering (CNE) students.

IPv6 Testbed
At present, six (6) personal computers have been procured to function as IPv6 PC-routers in the test sites of the partner institutions. Supplementing this, the project sponsored the transportation, accommodation, and attendance of the provincial site managers to the IPv6 workshop. These managers will be given the responsibility of setting up the IPv6 routers in their test sites, with support from the project staff.

Initiate Research and Development in IPv6
Through the efforts of the project in building up the IPv6 infrastructure in the country, it is hoped that research and development work in IPv6 will begin in the near future. ASTI is leading this work through its advocacy work, and by offering its IPv6 uplink to institutions that are interested in doing research in IPv6. In advocating for IPv6, institutions are enjoined to participate in Japan's IPv6 Promotion Council Application Development contest, as an incentive to conduct development work on IPv6.

ASTI recently received its own allocation of IPv6 address space from APNIC. The availability of address space for ASTI's use is expected to facilitate and enhance research work in IPv6 for ASTI's partner institutions.

Enhance Local Knowledge of IPv6 Technologies and Applications
ASTI's work with other institutions, particularly with schools and universities, internet service providers, telecommunications companies, and other research entities, has contributed to its knowledge of deploying IPv6. Most of these collaborations are still in their initial phase, although it is foreseen in the long-term that the sharing of experiences will contribute to the enhancement of the local IPv6 knowledge.

The project leader was able to attend the APAN Conference held in Fukuoka, Japan, last 22-24 January 2003. In addition, one project staff of the related PREGINET project has attended the APRICOT 2003 Conference in Taipei, Taiwan, where the first Asia-Pacific Global IPv6 Summit was conducted.

Partner Institutions:
University of the Philippines, Diliman: Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Represented by the head of its Network Simulation and Training Laboratory (NSTL), Nestor Tiglao, the UP-DEEE is natively connected to the global IPv6 network via ASTI. The department conducts research in IPv6 and has recently completed a partial implementation of the IPv6 stack on the Net186 board. Future work includes research on IPv6 transition mechanisms. http://www.upd.edu.ph/~eee/

University of the Philippines, Diliman: UP Computer Center
The University of the Philippines Computer Center (UPCC) is responsible for the networking resources of the UP Diliman Campus. The group has actively supported the deployment of IPv6 and is currently equipment-testing the new technology. UPCC will also manage the IPv6 address assignment of UP Diliman sub-allocated from ASTI's IPv6 address block.

Central Visayas Information Sharing Network (CVISNet) Foundation, Inc.
The CVISNet Foundation is an e-government project to consolidate the internet and networking needs of various government agencies within the Visayas region. The foundation has since expanded to provide IT services such as content development, consulting, technical support, and training. The CVISNet Foundation plans to conduct an IPv6 workshop to cater to schools and universities, and other institutions in the Visayas region. http://www.cvis.net.ph

Mindanao State University - Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) 
MSU-IIT is an autonomous unit of the Mindanao State University System that conducts research and development in networking and communications technologies. The Institute will cater to the IPv6 participants coming from the Mindanao area.  http://www.msuiit.edu.ph

Future Plans
During the conduct of the IPv6 Workshop, some institutions were not accommodated due to limited facilities. In response to the demand, ASTI is planning one more IPv6 workshop. The event is targeted at industry participants such as ISPs and Telcos, as well as the access point partners of the PREGINET project. This workshop would be inclined towards operational concerns of IPv6.

In addition to the plans of the partner institutions, the Advanced Science and Technology Institute would continue to conduct research and development in IPv6. Some areas in consideration are deployment mechanisms, mobile IPv6, secure IPv6, and QoS in IPv6.

Read the Abstract of Project
Read the entire Project Proposal