Government Computer News
Lost in Transition
With the first major deadline behind them, agencies try and find their way toward IPv6 adoption
Digg
De.licio.us
Slashdot
Technorati
Image: Rick Steele
Twenty-five of 26 large agencies submitted IPv6 transition plans by the Feb. 28 deadline laid out by OMB’s Karen Evans.
Don’t look for rapid ROI from IPv6
Throughout February, the Federal CIO Council’s IPv6 working group met with various transition leaders to help clarify what the Office of Management and Budget expected to see in documents due at the end of that month. OMB had asked agencies to submit transition plans and status updates, using enterprise architecture as a planning framework.
Just a day before the Feb. 28 deadline, NASA chief technology officer and head of the IPv6 working group John McManus said questions still lingered about what OMB wanted.
“I think most agencies are starting to close the gap,” McManus said. “But some agencies were hard pressed about what they had to deliver to OMB.”
Still, they delivered. And the transition to IPv6 rolls on. An OMB official said 25 of 26 scorecard agencies submitted the required documents on time.
“There were several small agencies that did not submit their IPv6 transition plans and progress reports,” the official said. But some of that is due to the fact that some small agencies don’t actually own their networks. “A number of the small agencies receive their network access and support through service providers, and OMB is working to provide additional guidance to these agencies.”
The variety of ways agencies can provision network services underscores the complexity of spelling out IPv6 transition programs. But although there may still be short-term confusion, “we have a much better understanding of what is required for 2008,” McManus said. In that year, according to OMB, network backbones must be running IPv6.
Defining the goals
Not everything is crystal clear. There still is debate about just what “backbone” means, said Walt Grabowski, senior director of telecommunications for SI International Inc. of Reston, Va., the company managing the Defense Department’s transition. And if they aren’t sure what backbone they must transition, the definition of success in 2008 remains fuzzy.
The consensus in government and industry is that the 2008 deadline is aggressive but doable.
![1105 Government Information Group [purity]](/images/1105logo_website.gif "Government Computer News [purity]")
© 1996-2008 1105 Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
