Cisco Systems on Monday announced the availability of Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) capabilities for products that run the company's IOS network systems software.
Cisco developed and tested IPv6 through the assistance of several hundred customer beta testers, Cisco said in a statement. The new IPv6 will be made generally available for the company's routers starting this month. Early adopter customers are currently in IPv6 trials with the Cisco 7600 and 12000 Series Internet Routers, the company said.
IPv6 offers expanded IP addresses to accommodate the growing number of Internet-enabled devices, and it offers auto-configuration for plug-and-play capabilities, greater mobility and end-to-end security, Cisco said. The major difference between the current standard of IPv4 and IPv6 is the IP address is extended from 32 bits to 128 bits, which will allow for greater expansion of IP addresses.
Cisco will support IPv6 with the following products: Cisco 800 Series Routers; Cisco 1400 Series Routers; Cisco 1600 Series Routers; Cisco 1700 Series Routers; Cisco 2500 Series Routers; Cisco 2600 Series Routers; Cisco 3600 Series Routers; Cisco 4500 and 4700 Series Routers; Cisco AS5300 and AS5400 Universal Access Servers; Cisco 7100, 7200 and 7500 Series Routers.
Full support for these routers will be made available later in 2001 with future releases of Cisco IOS software Cisco said.
