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News Release

August 19, 1998

HITACHI DEVELOPED NEXT GENERATION INTERNET PROTOCOL IPV6 SOFTWARE "TOOLNET6" WORKING ON WINDOWS(R)

-To be Distributed Free of Charge from Hitachi Home Page -

Hitachi, Ltd. today announced that it has developed the IPv6 software "Toolnet6" that enables the next generation Internet Protocol IPv6 to work on personal computers mounting Windows(R) 95, Windows(R) 98, or Windows NT(R). Hitachi is the first in the industry to provide IPv6 software for personal computers that can use existing application programs. The software will be offered free of charge from Hitachi's home page (www.hitachi.co.jp/network/) on and after August 20.

Hitachi also intend to present its technical contentsand announce the start of free-of-charge distribution at the 42nd IETF* Meeting to be held in Chicago from August 24 in order to promote practical use of IPv6 in IPv6 experiment sites throughout the world.

An experimental network was established within Hitachi using "Toolnet6" and the "NR60" router for IPv6 and started its operation in July 1998.

*IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force): Organization to promote standardization of Internet specifications.

In recent years, with the tremendous spread of the Internet, the number of systems connected to the Internet has doubled every year. Accordingly, the address space of the existing Internet Protocol IPv4 has been consumed and is said will be exhausted in several to ten-odd years. With IPv4, such functions as security, priority control, or automatic configuration are provided only as optional functions. This will be a great problem in the future when higher security and real-time communication are require for the Internet. For reasons of the exhaustion of IP addresses, the addition of various functions and improvement of performance, the IETF is promoting the standardization of the next generation Internet Protocol IPv6 and has roughly determined its basic framework.

Hitachi, Ltd. has been developing IPv6 technology and has conducted advanced activities toward practical use. Concretely, the company manufactured the "NR60" router which works with IPv6 and has an IPv4 address translating function as the first product in the industry. "NR60" is already widely used in IPv6 experimental environments around the world. Hitachi participated in/connected to the IOL (Interoperability Laboratory) of New Hampshire University in the USA and the world-famous IPv6 experimental network 6Bone to verify the mutual connectability, and also made proposals related to protocol translation technology at the IETF in December 1997, playing a leading role in the IPv6 field in the world.

The IPv6 software "Toolnet6" can run on Windows(R) 95,Windows(R) 98, and Windows NT(R) and can provide connections to IPv6 networks. This makes it possible to use existing application programs in the IPv4 environment.With this, an IPv6 experiment system of server/client style in the Windows environment can be constructed.

Hitachi expects that "Toolnet6" will contribute to the progress of the Internet as an infrastructure for companies and society through its use in advanced IPv6 experiments to be conducted by carriers, Internet service providers, research institutes and companies all over the world.

In "HITNET," an information network within the Hitachi group and one of the world's largest scales, connecting 613 domestic and overseas bases, a large experimental network will be constructed for a future shift to IPv6 to verify various technologies in the IPv4/IPv6 combined environment, acquire operational technology of the IPv6 network, and develop, evaluate and provide applications and services making the most of IPv6. Hitachi started in-house experiments in July 1998, and are scheduled to extend it to experimental networks by connecting its divisions and other Hitachi companies in the future.

Hitachi, Ltd. intends to support IPv6 for servers acting as a key in intranets and extranets in addition to routers, LAN switches, ATM switches and network control software by making the most of the technologies of " Toolnet6" and "NR60".At Hitachi's Internet connection service "netSpace" and company network outsourcing service "Compassport", Hitachi is going to provide new services adopting the IPv6 technology. Hitachi will make efforts to smoothly shift from the existing IPv4 environment to the IPv6 environment and realize higher security, real-time communication, and higher practicability, which are features of IPv6, in order to implement the next generation Internet environment in an early stage.

Trademarks
-Toolnet is registered trademark of Hitachi, Ltd. in Japan.
- The full name of Windows 95 is Microsoft(R) Windows(R) 95 Operating System.
- The full name of Windows 98 is Microsoft(R) Windows(R) 98 Operating System.
- The full name of Windows NT is Microsoft(R) Windows NT(R) Operating.
- Windows and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.


WRITTEN BY Secretary's Office
All Rights Reserved, Copyright (C) 1998, Hitachi, Ltd.