The engineering effort is being led by Daniel Obi Awduche, who pioneered Generalized MPLS at Movaz Networks and helped lead the IPv6 backbone update at MCI Communications, which was later acquired by Verizon.

The genesis of the network was formed from MCI's Very-High-Performance Backbone Network Service, which became IPv6-capable in 1998 in its vBNS+ instantiation. Because this network was the second to be allocated IPv6 address space by the American Registry for Internet Numbers, the federal government began working closely first with MCI, then with Verizon Business, to use vBNS+ to meet the U.S. government mandate to turn to IPv6 by mid-2008.

By using dual stacks over MPLS, Verizon will support customers who want to maintain both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses in one network, though it will also allow customers to transition directly to all-IPv6 subnets. Verizon peering points already are IPv6-capable, and Verizon expects a full transition of its network in the next 18 months, with North America slated for completion within 2008, and Asia-Pacific and European regions following in 2008-09.

Because of the vastly expanded address space, IPv6 will allow IP address assignment to home appliances, RFID tags, personal digital assistants, and similar high-volume consumer and industrial smart nodes.