Etisalat provides Zayed University with IPv6 connectivity for testing purposes

This initiative is part of Etisalat 's initiative to share knowledge with higher educational institutions in the country on IPv6 .

According to Abdulla Hashim, Manager, UAEnic,

"We are very pleased at this opportunity to work with Zayed University to share our experience and expertise on IPv6 with their faculty at the College of Information Systems and its students. This collaboration will help in increasing awareness about IPv6 and its potential applications and help institutions like Zayed University to provide a high quality educational environment on the latest global technology trends to its students. We look forward to working with more educational institutions across the country on IPv6 so that we can share our acclaimed expertise in this space."

" This new initiative follows a series of initiatives on similar lines carried out by Etisalat earlier with other institutions like Etisalat Engineering College .Etisalat has also carried out IPv6 tests with other Internet service providers such as Qtel in Qatar, Deustche Telecom in Germany, Tiscali in Italy and KDDI in Japan."

IPv6 is the "next generation" protocol designed by the IETF(Internet Engineering Task Force) to gradually replace the current version Internet Protocol, IP Version 4 ("IPv4").Most of today's internet uses IPv4, which is now nearly twenty years old. The rapid developments in Internet applications and use of Internet in different fields could translate into a shortage of IPv4 addresses, which are needed by all new machines added to the Internet. Etisalat through UAEnic (United Arab Emirates Network Information Centre) kickstarted the IPv6 initiative in the UAE by end of year 2000 by bringing the technology to UAE.

Etisalat's involvement with IPv6 reflects its key role as a regional leader in bringing in state-of-the-art technologies & services to the region. Etisalat is a key member of the UAE IPv6 task force established recently in March 2005 at the Second Gulf IPv6 summit and is committed to devoting time and resources to enhance the awareness and deployment of IPv6 in the UAE.

Dr Dianne Martin, Dean of the College of Information Systems, Zayed University, stated

"Zayed University is delighted to have the opportunity to co-operate with Etisalat in bringing expertise in IPv6 technology to the UAE, and in particular, to our students, the networking professionals of the future. We already have an enthusiastic group of students, faculty and staff testing IPv6 configurations in a laboratory environment. Connectivity to the Etisalat test lab will greatly enhance the educational and research opportunities for our students and faculty. We are looking forward to co-operating with Etisalat and other educational institutions to develop an experimental IPv6 network for the entire UAE."