OpenBlockS266 Case Study NTT Communications

Creating an OCN IPv6 appliance server

Business Background

Switching on the home lighting from a remote PC

NTT Communications offers the OCN IPv6 Service as an easy way to connect your home network from a mobile PC over the Internet. As it uses IPv6, as the name suggests, it is possible to give each device on the local net its own global IP, which makes it easy to access each device directly. Not only can the home server be accessed, it is also possible to control audio and video equipment, web cameras and similar equipment. Equipped with a small server with a DIO port, it is even possible to control lighting, air conditioning and other household appliances. There is a wide field of applications to discover.

A strong point of OCN IPv6 is that you can even use it in environments where IPv4 and IPv6 coexist, and even from behind a NAT router. The system combines both easy access, the advantage of IPv4, and global IP addresses for every device, the advantage of IPv6.

With the additional service "OCN IPv6 Mobile", the OCN IPv6 network can also be accessed from mobile devices. As a home security example, when you use a web camera with a sensor, that camera can notify the cell phone if it detects anything happening at home. You can check the image of the camera from the mobile phone and check whether the door is locked.

Controlling household appliances
by cell phone via the IPv6 network

Switching the light on at home from a mobile phone

NTT Communications is currently in a transition period to IPv6, and aims to increase the demand for IPv6 solutions.

Creating an OCN IPv6 appliance server with the OpenBlockS266

NTT Communications employees publish the Japanese language IPv6 Blog about OCN. This blog lists a number of usage examples. These are separated into the categories "home server", "home appliance control", "PC-Unix", "program" and "IPv6 user", and made up of texts and pictures of actual implementations. This makes it an extraordinarily helpful information source for IPv6 users.

For example, one of the tools presented in the blog is the home server setup tool Apaconf. Apaconf handles the usually needed installation work to build an Apache Web server. It's a tool that servers as an easy unified installer and interface to setup all configuration files for the Apache installation. On the blog, the software is not just distributed, it also includes continually updated usage reports.

OpenBlockS266 as OCN appliance

The blog also offers firmware for the Plat'Home OpenBlockS266 MicroServer *. With this update, the OpenBlockS266 can be used as an end terminal for the OCN IPv6 network. This the same firmware that is included in the OCN IPv6 appliance that was introduced at Tokyo Interop 2006. Let's have a look at the circumstances for the development of this appliance server.

Advantages of an appliance base

For the OCN IPv6, it is usually necessary to have a PC running as server in the home network. If you use a dedicated appliance box like the OpenBlockS, it is no longer necessary to keep the PC running or install software on it. Users can access the OCN IPv6 network with just the space-saving, inexpensive and robust appliance server.

In addition, as the source code and all other information is made public, the OpenBlockS is the perfect piece of hardware to create an appliance. The OCN IPv6 appliance makes full use of all features of the OpenBlockS.

The reason the OpenBlockS was selected as base hardware was the trust the developers had in the hardware. Here is what Dai Kuwabara of NTT Communications had to say about the development:

"I was looking for something that was Open Source and easy to use, and the OpenBlockS was the first thing that sprang to my eye. ... the Open Source SSD/Linux is very easy to understand with its BSD-style macros."

Dai Kuwabara of NTT Communications

Mr. Kuwahara also gives a high rating to the Open Source OS on the OpenBlockS, SSD/Linux. With all specifications available on the Web, it's an OS that is easy to customize and perfect for appliances such as the current example. The NTT Communications developers showed a vivid smile in the interview when talking about the development process on the OpenBlockS.

Results of the installation and a future outlook

The development of the OCN IPv6 appliance server based on the OpenBlockS was finished without issues. It was greeted with positive reactions by show visitors when it was presented at Interop 2006 in Tokyo. At the time of this interview, the developers started to distribute the firmware of the appliance in their IPv6 blog. In a demonstration the developers held for reporters, they gave a peek of future possibilities for NTT Communication's ITC solutions when they showed how a camera and a keylock were remote controlled over the OpenBlockS box from a cell phone.

Currently, NTT Communication's developers are evaluating ways to continue development on OCN IPv6 appliances, with a successor based on the OpenMicroServer.

(Interview: August 2006)

* The OpenBlockS firmware distributed at the IPv6 blog is updated by NTT Commnications, and not officially distributed by Plat'Home. Neither Plat'Home nor NTT Communications can be held liable for damages that result from use of the software.