Fremont, California and Hong Kong - September 2, 2011 - Hurricane Electric, the world’s largest IPv6-native Internet backbone and colocation provider, today announced that it is partnering with Internet Society Hong Kong (ISOC HK), to introduce the first IPv6 Certification Program in Asia. It will be conducted directly in Chinese for the Chinese speaking markets and will be the first non-English global IPv6 certification program.

The Chinese-language certification programs will feature content identical to that of Hurricane Electric’s existing English programs. The programs are self-paced and certify level of mastery (from “Newbie” to “Sage”) of real-world IPv6 concepts and deployment techniques. The certification program will be rolled out initially in Hong Kong, but will be made available eventually to Chinese speakers in other markets.

“While Asia is leading in the transition to IPv6, Hong Kong has to address the need for certification as well. This is where ISOC HK is taking a lead to spearhead IPv6 adoption in the local industries. By working with Hurricane Electric to develop a Chinese-language IPv6 Certification Program, anyone in Hong Kong can get up-to-date with the latest protocols and be ready for the next stage of Internet development,” said Charles Mok, chairman of ISOC HK.

The Certification Program will build on the efforts by the Hong Kong Government to encourage IPv6 readiness. With an IPv6-compliant infrastructure already in place, the Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation (HKIRC) has been offering IPv6 domain name services with a number of ISPs in Hong Kong to provide commercial IPv6 services. The Program will build up a pool of certified talents who are able to overcome the IPv4 address exhaustion issue and pave the way for widespread IPv6 adoption.

“Hurricane Electric is thrilled to work with ISOC HK to offer IPv6 certification in Chinese,” said Martin Levy, Director of IPv6 Strategy at Hurricane Electric. “This partnership will address a significant Internet user-base that is demanding IPv6 support and guidance, and is especially timely given the fact that last April the Asia Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC) allocated its last blocks of IPv4 addresses.”

With the IPv6 certification, companies and businesses will be able to meet the international standards and compliance for IPv6 deployment. The IPv6 protocol is designed to replace IPv4, the Internet protocol currently in use since the late 1970s. The IPv6 program will certify any professional to configure and validate IPv6 servers and equipment, allowing them to benefit from IPv6 connectivity, added security and protection, as well as greater performance.

In addition to offering the certification programs online, ISOC HK will work with Hurricane Electric to offer multi-day IPv6 training courses at the state-of-the-art Cyberport facilities in Hong Kong. The course curriculum was assembled by Hurricane Electric’s IPv6 Evangelist, Owen DeLong and Sang Young, IPv6 Training Team Head of ISOC HK.

To kick off the Chinese certification program, Mr. Levy and Mr. Mok will hold a brief Kick-off ceremony today at IPv6 World:Asia: After World IPv6 Day, what’s next? Conference at Cyberport, Hong Kong.

About Internet Society Hong Kong
Internet Society Hong Kong (ISOC HK) is the local chapter organization of the Internet Society (ISOC), which is an international, professional, not-for-profit membership society with more than 100 organizations and more than tens of thousands individual members in over 90 chapters around the world, providing leadership in all issues confronting the current and future Internet. ISOC-HK was formed in 2005 by local veteran Internet professionals with the mission to improve the practice of Internet governance and online civil society in Hong Kong. Consistent with the ISOC statement of purpose, ISOC HK believes in “maintaining and extending the development and availability of the Internet and its associated technologies and applications - both as an end in itself, and as a means of enabling organizations, professions, and individuals locally and worldwide to more effectively collaborate, cooperate, and innovate in their respective fields and interests.” For more details on Internet Society Hong Kong, please visit www.isoc.hk.

About Hurricane Electric
Hurricane Electric operates its own global IPv4 and IPv6 network and is considered the largest IPv6 backbone in the world as measured by number of networks connected. Within its global network, Hurricane Electric has 45 major exchange points with connectivity to more than 1,800 different networks.  Employing a resilient fiber-optic topology, Hurricane Electric has no less than four redundant paths crossing North America, two separate paths between the U.S. and Europe, and rings in Europe and Asia. In addition to its vast global network, Hurricane Electric owns and operates two data centers in Fremont, California - including Fremont2, its newest 200,000 square-foot facility. Hurricane Electric offers IPv4 and IPv6 transit solutions over the same connection at speeds exceeding 10 Gbps.  An IPv6 leader for over a decade, Hurricane Electric first deployed IPv6 on its global backbone in 2001. Hurricane Electric’s global Internet backbone is one of the few that is IPv6-native and does not rely on internal tunnels for IPv6 connectivity. IPv6 is offered as a core service and every customer is provided IPv6 connectivity, as well as classic IPv4 connectivity. Hurricane Electric connects to more than 1,200 associated IPv6 backbones.
Additional information can be found at http://he.net.