The Challenge Faced by a Leading University in Latin America to Deploy IPv6

29/07/2021

The University of Campinas (known as UniCAMP) in Sao Paulo, one of the three most outstanding universities in Latin America and leader in the number of patents in Brazil, presented its winning project in LACNIC’s IPv6 Challenge, within the framework of the IPv6 Day webinar.

Henri Godoy, one of the leaders of UniCAMP’s winning initiative, said that the university, which has about 60,000 students, has been working with IPv6 for 10 years since they received the first address block. In 2011, UniCAMP created a working group to deploy this Internet Protocol in their data networks.

During this time, the University has been gradually testing the IPv6 protocol in their units, which has been a “very interesting experience,” said Godoy.

The UniCAMP project included router upgrades and an IPv6 addressing plan that included the implementation of the protocol in several services. They also used different transition mechanisms, including 464XLAT. The deployment included VoIP, WiFi networks and monitoring.

Ivan Miguel, a UniCAMP Analyst and member of the team that carried out the project, said that they have 20,000 fixed network devices and another 30,000 mobile devices throughout the University’s network. The participation of the University’s Technical Community has helped to raise awareness of the importance of IPv6 and to develop an IPv6 strategic plan.

IPv6 Challenge. Godoy pointed out that taking part in LACNIC’s IPv6 Challenge gave them the opportunity to document all IPv6 projects carried out by the University.

“We took it as an opportunity to advance in the implementation and learning process of IPv6, thus contributing to the development of the Internet”,said the expert.

As a closing remark, Godoy thanked LACNIC for the visibility that the challenge provided to the University and the International Community, and expressed his willingness to help other institutions by sharing good practices and promoting greater adoption of IPv6.