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Research projects reinforce RNP2's functionalities

RNP made a lot of research projects on networks for the year 2001. Some of them, such as the IPv6 pilot project, are developments of projects that were already carried out before RNP2 backbone; others, such as the QoS project, were created just to be applied to the new backbone or to optimize its use.

All in all, RNP has agreed with the Ministry of Science and Technology to carry out five research projects: the Internet Production Service; Network Services for Innovative Internet Applications; Experimental IPv6 Network; Cache Hierarchy; and Network and System Security. Some of them are branched into multiple actions. In the Internet Production Service, for instance, there are: traditional IP network management; statistics and traffic analysis in RNP2; ATM management; directory service; support to the operation of the backbone's Points of Presence (PoPs); connection to the Internet2; and website maintenance with information on how to operate the network. In order to reach the goals of the project, several tools were tested and implanted and some procedures were adopted, such as the use of the Request Tracker - a system of call management - to serve the PoPs.

Of the projects selected, the experimental IPv6 network and the network services for innovative applications are worthy of note - the first for working with the Internet protocol that will replace IPv4, currently being used and having a series of limitations; and the second for creating means of using the network by applications requiring a differentiated service.

IPv6: the next generation Internet

In August, RNP received its first production IPv6 address book, which was used in the configuration of the experimental network. This network started functioning in October, joining the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Norte and Rio Grande do Sul. Since 1998, RNP has been studying the IPv6 protocol through the Br6Bone network. The difference is that, in the Br6Bone, the traffic was made in a tunneled way; that is to say, the IPv6 packages were converted in their origin to IPv4 and reconverted to IPv6 in their destination. In the experimental network there is no conversion. That is called a native IPv6 network: from the beginning to the end, the traffic is made by means of the new protocol. In November, the pilot network established IPv6 tunnels with the (North American) Internet2 and (French) Renater networks.

The advantages of the IPv6 protocol go from its addressing capacity - four billion times bigger than that of IPv4 - to its quality of service and security. Ultimately, IPv6 will permit millions of cellular phones, refrigerators, cars and a wide variety of household appliances to have an IP address, enabling them to be connected to the Internet.

QoS, multicast and interactive video

Experimental networks were also implanted to test multicast traffic and quality of service (QoS) tools. Both of them play an important role in generating strategies for the use of multicast and QoS in all RNP2's backbone. The relevance of the two projects is highlighted on a page of RNP's website. In the two cases, besides their respective experimental networks, punctual configurations were made in the backbone to meet the demands of the institutions using it.

The implantation of quality of service in the backbone is essential to the success of advanced applications, such as telemedicine, videoconference and VoIP (voice over IP or telephony over IP). In addition to great bandwidth, these applications require a differentiated service so as to avoid interruptions or package loss in data transmission. Concerning the multicast technology, it is essential to applications using real-time multimedia resources, such as videoconference and distance education. With this technology, the traffic source sends a single copy of the packages to a multicast group address. The network infrastructure replicates these packages in an intelligent way, sending the data according to the topology of the receivers interested in that piece of information. It generates benefits such as saving resources and, consequently, optimizing the network.

Still in the field of network services for innovative Internet applications, the interactive video pilot was created with the purpose of implementing procedures and technical resources for experiments with videoconference and the like, emphasizing the use of IP multicast transmission.

[RNP, 12.21.2001]