Nokia demonstrates industry's first mobile IPv6 call

The demonstration highlights real-time streaming video with seamless handoff between two CDMA access networks using Mobile IPv6. Mobile IPv6 is a mobility protocol for IPv6 enabled handsets providing always-on capabilities and seamless mobility.

Mobile IPv6 provides seamless mobility for next generation mobile services and applications by enabling terminals to maintain their IP connectivity as they move across networks with different access technologies. Additionally, Mobile IPv6 provides route optimization techniques to reduce handoff latencies.

IPv4 has been an overwhelming success, however, the current IPv4 protocol has encountered a growing list of challenges, including the scarcity of new Internet IPv4 addresses. This is particularly an issue in emerging Internet markets where the number of users continues to grow rapidly. Some operators have worked around this address limitation by using network address translation (NAT). While NAT offers operators a workable solution in client/server-based Internet applications, NAT is far less usable in the peer-to-peer world of mobile communications and greatly limits the deployment of innovative network applications and services.

"IPv6 is the next-generation of the internet protocol and has many advantages over IPv4 both for the network operators and the end-users," says Adam Gould, VP Technology Management and Planning, Nokia CDMA. "IPv6 allows the deployment of millions of always-on, IP enabled devices, each with it's own unique IP address.

Additionally, Mobile IPv6 provides seamless mobility across access technologies (e.g CDMA, WCDMA , WLAN) and is a powerful enabler for the next generation of services such as peer-to-peer services, push services and Voice over IP (VoIP) which demand always-on global reachability and seamless mobility."

Mobile IPv6 provides enhanced security and route-optimization techniques to reduce handoff latencies for real-time services. Mobile IPv6, along with fast-handoffs and context transfer mechanisms will be essential for the large scale deployment of real-time services such as VoIP and broadcast services.

Nokia supports dual-stack IPv4/IPv6/Mobile IPv6 in the terminals and the network, eliminating the need for NAT/PT mechanisms. By ensuring seamless interworking between IPv6 and IPv4 systems, Nokia enables service providers to deliver a broad range of quality services during the transition to IPv6.

Nokia has been the industry leader in the development of IETF IPv6 and Mobile IPv6 standards, and other Internet protocols required for seamless mobility. Nokia is the industry leader in the definition and standardization of fast handoffs and context transfer mechanisms, working closely with key industry partners to enable and support this technology.