Among the challenges faced by IPv6, a long anticipated upgrade to the Internet’s main communications protocol, is the fact that IPv6 is slower than the existing IPv4 protocol it hopes to replace. Recent tests have shown significant performance degradation when network equipment runs IPv6 and IPv4 at the same time, as will likely happen on service provider and enterprise networks during the transition to IPv6.

Now two semiconductor manufacturers - IDT and Bay Microsystems - are trying to fix the IPv6 performance problem.

IDT, in San Jose, has announced a new component for network equipment that dramatically speeds up the packet header processing required by IPv6. Bay Microsystems, also in San Jose, is planning to use IDT’s component in its next-generation network processor.

IDT offers an application-optimized network search accelerator dubbed the IDT 75S10000A that supports 1 billion searches per second. IDT officials say this is four times faster than the company’s previous products.

"We can quadruple the data rate throughput of IPv6 traffic, and we’re equally adept at handling IPv4 traffic," says Dave Cech, director of marketing for IP co-processors at IDT. "It’s by far the highest performing system on the market."

Bay Microsystems is using IDT’s new network search accelerator in its Chesapeake Network Processor, which will support 122 million packets per second sustained performance. Bay Microsystems’ Chesapeake will support 40Gbps line rates and is designed for routers, switches and other network equipment that will support 100 Gigabit Ethernet services.

"We’ve spent several years working together to meet the challenges of the next generation of products," says Bill Weisinger, director of marketing for Bay Microsystems. "We’ve been defining the chips, defining the requirements of IPv6 and optimizing the key widths to address IPv6 applications."

Bay Microsystems announced its Chesapeake Network Processor in May and will start sending sample products to network equipment vendors in the fourth quarter of this year. Commercial products that use the Chesapeake Network Processor will be available next year.

Developed by the IETF, IPv6 promises easier administration, tighter security and an enhanced addressing scheme when compared with IPv4. IPv6 uses a 128-bit addressing scheme and supports a virtually limitless number of uniquely identified systems on the Internet. In contrast, IPv4 uses a 32-bit addressing scheme and supports only a few billion systems.