University of Querétaro Wins Fifth Edition of the IPv6 Challenge

30/05/2019

Mexican University of Querétaro took the first prize in the fifth edition of the IPv6 Challenge, a competition devised by the regional technical community and promoted by LACNIC’s R&D Department to recognize the work of organizations that have deployed this protocol in their networks.

This time, the quality of the submissions meant that the selection committee had to conduct an exhaustive evaluation of the works, after which two finalists were still in the running for the first prize. After careful deliberation, the committee decided in favor of the project by the Mexican university. The initiative submitted by the Advanced Technology Research Network (RITA) of Colombia took second place.

“The challenge is an idea born from the community. Now, five editions have already been organized with the support of LACNIC. The goal of this competition is for participating organizations to show their progress in IPv6 deployment over a period of three or four months,” said Alejandro Acosta, R&D Coordinator at LACNIC.

Azael Fernández, member of the IPv6 Challenge selection committee, noted that 17 participants had registered for the initial stage and that four of these organizations had moved on to the following stages of the competition, which included preparing reports on the progress of each project. “The final deliberation was not easy because of the quality of the work,” Fernandez added.

The two winners documented and submitted evidence of their advances in their IPv6 deployment reports.

In the case of RITA, they made a very interesting deployment in at least six services, including evidence of an increase in IPv6-ready equipment as well as IPv6 connectivity tests from and to the Internet in their reports.

In turn, the University of Querétaro showed advances in IPv6 deployment in several locations, as well as an IPv6 addressing plan, which ultimately led the selection committee to award the first prize to the University.

Acosta has announced the sixth edition of the Challenge, adding that registration will be announced shortly.

Since its first edition in 2017, the chance to participate in subsequent editions of the IPv6 Challenge has led many organizations around the region to organize their deployment of IPv6 services and substantially increase their use of this protocol. The IPv6 Challenge originated in the former Latin American IPv6 Forum (currently part of the LACNIC Technical Forum) and was promoted by Azael Fernández with the support of the LACNIC R&D Department.