About 6DEPLOY-2

6DEPLOY-2 is a two-and-a-half-year European project to provide IPv6 training and support for deployments to network operators, service providers and industry throughout the world.

The project offers not only the direct training of engineers and network administrators, but will also transfer knowledge and best practices on the subject to other trainers, who can then use the 6DEPLOY-2 material to teach others. The project is also deploying IPv6 training labs that can be accessed remotely for performing hands-on exercises on routing and configuration, either during the workshops or at any other time. A professional e-learning course is accessible via the Website. This can be followed on-line, or downloaded. Subtitles are available in Portuguese and Russian; other languages will be added.

6DEPLOY-2 will also lead the IPv6 Cluster, to inform about IPv6 deployments and encourage the exchange of best practices.

Furthermore, 6DEPLOY-2 will describe step-by-step real practical deployment scenarios on its Website, as a visual aid to help potential deployers of IPv6 through the process.

6DEPLOY-2 builds on the IPv6 dissemination material produced during 6DEPLOY, and deployment experiences of the 6NET, Euro6IX and GÉANT projects, as well as the liaisons established with the IPv6 Forum, European IPv6 Task Force and the IETF. The aim is to help organisations benefit from this experience, as the deadline for the IPv4 address depletion approaches.

6DEPLOY-2 incorporates twelve partners from the commercial, research and academic sectors and represents a total investment of EUR 953,414; of which EUR 800,000 is funded from the Research Infrastructures part of the Capacities Programme of the European Union´s 7^th Framework Programme. The project started on 1 September 2010 and runs until 28 February 2013.

Objectives

• Organise workshops for the e-Infrastructure community worldwide and give practical advice and hands-on support for deploying it in their environments
• Work on deployments in Europe and in developing countries; exchanging experiences and best practices
• Maintain the wealth of training documentation produced during recent years
• Improve the competitiveness of European industry by informing about experiences from IPv6 deployments in other regions
• Gain expertise with which to support more-commercial deployments in European industries
• Help to build consensus between European researchers, by enabling and exploiting synergy among related FP7 projects
• Encourage - and enhance the effectiveness of - the coordination between National and pan-European e-Infrastructure initiatives, by being a focal point for IPv6 activities, giving IPv6 training and supporting IPv6 deployments
• Deploy a further 10 IPv6 training labs, thereby making more sites available for use in 6DEPLOY-2 training courses and enabling more-complex and more-realistic experiments to be performed. These training labs will become centres of IPv6 competence in countries around the world, forming a sustainable human network of expertise to train others. Sustainability is achieved initially through the careful selection of locations for the installations, where the connectivity, funding and qualified staff support are all secured
• Open up the ICT programme to the participation of third country organisations in International Cooperation Partner Countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, by involving organisations which influence e-Infrastructures on their continents
• Improve scientific cooperation between Europe and the declared target regions (Africa, Asia and Latin America,) by exchanging knowledge and experiences through direct practical support for deployment, training events, etc. The project therefore also helps support other Community policies, notably the development policy. Telecommunications infrastructure and the capability to access information worldwide are key measures of a country's progress IPv6 has been a cornerstone of European Internet policy for several years
• Support interoperability and standards, by informing of the latest IPv6 standards, equipment hardware and software releases, and IPv6 policies (RIRs)

Work Packages

WP1: IPv6 workshops and training

This work package updates the IPv6 training material, organises the regional workshops, and provides follow-up support. It utilises the existing 6DEPLOY experience and documentation, supplemented by the knowledge gained from the project partners' participation in the IPv6 Forum, IPv6 Cluster, IETF and other activities.

The professional and popular e-learning course from 6DEPLOY is also maintained here, and will be improved with sub-titles in other languages.

This Workpackage collects feedback questionnaires from the workshop participants and analyses the comments from each event, enabling 6DEPLOY-2 to assess the quality of the presentations and identify any areas that need improvement. Follow-up questionnaires enable the longer-term impact of the training to be evaluated.

6DEPLOY-2 will give training sessions at AfriNIC, LACNIC and APNIC meetings and similar operator and Internet Registry events. These will be typically 3-4 day workshops including theoretical and hands-on training, or shorter sessions, focusing on the practical work of installing and configuring IPv6 on hosts and routers.

Workshops will also be given with industries or research organisations with e- Infrastructures planning their deployment of IPv6, and with FP7 projects needing support with their IPv6 deployment.

Lead Partner: Consulintel

WP2: Globalisation of IPv6 training labs

The IPv6 training labs are becoming increasingly popular. These are built to a common specification, which allows the 6DEPLOY-2 training course material to be used on them all. It has been shown that these have developed naturally into centres of IPv6 expertise in the countries where they are situated.

They also represent a widening set of testbeds that can be accessed as a single pool and used remotely for ?hands-on? exercises during the IPv6 training workshops, thereby allowing more people to be trained in a single session since more equipment is available.

WP2 has been created especially to manage the selection of the locations, the installation of the training labs and any enhancements, the operational procedures (including their reservation through a common portal), and to support the (human) networking between the lab managers. In addition, this work package will maintain and supplement the existing ?hands-on? exercises.

Lead Partner: RENATER

WP3: Deployment support

WP3 focuses on giving support for IPv6 deployments through 3 main mechanisms:

• Producing and maintaining step-by-step descriptions of real practical deployment scenarios on the Website, as a visual aid to help potential deployers of IPv6 through the process,
• Organising at least one IPv6 Cluster meeting per year, to inform FP7 projects and regional and/or industrial initiatives regarding IPv6 deployment, and encourage the exchange of best practices,
• An on-line support service (?Helpdesk?).

As one further tool for the support of IPv6 deployment, the project Website will be used to publicise useful information that partners, collaborators and end users can use to keep updated of standards, supporting documentation, upcoming events and the latest news and achievements from the project.

Lead Partner: GRNET

WP4: Project management

WP4 deals with the day-to-day management of the project; ensuring that the contractual obligations are met, payments are made, handling any contract amendments, liaison with the Commission and other projects, progress monitoring, reporting, etc.

Lead Partner: Martel

More info about 6DEPLOY 1 project could be found under the 6DEPLOY 1 (IST-2007-223794) About web page.