Feds: Go-slow approach on IPv6

Task force sees little short-term benefit toward IPv6 deployment; net security a concern.

IPv6 advocates looking for the U.S. federal government to make a major financial commitment to the next generation of the Internet's main communications protocol will be disappointed with the findings of a new report from the Commerce Department.

"Aggressive government action to accelerate the deployment of IPv6 by the private sector is not warranted at this time,'' states a report from the Commerce Department's IPv6 Task Force, which consists of officials from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

"Although IPv6 has the potential to produce significant benefits for U.S. businesses and consumers over time, the near-term benefits are less clear,'' the report states. "In the initial years of IPv6 deployment, network security will likely be no greater under the protocol than is currently available in IPv4 networks. Additional evidence suggests that premature adoption of IPv6 ... could result in unnecessary costs and reduced information technology security.''

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IPv6 advocates looking for the U.S. federal government to make a major financial commitment to the next generation of the Internet's main communications protocol will be disappointed with the findings of a new report from the Commerce Department.

"Aggressive government action to accelerate the deployment of IPv6 by the private sector is not warranted at this time,'' states a report from the Commerce Department's IPv6 Task Force, which consists of officials from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

"Although IPv6 has the potential to produce significant benefits for U.S. businesses and consumers over time, the near-term benefits are less clear,'' the report states. "In the initial years of IPv6 deployment, network security will likely be no greater under the protocol than is currently available in IPv4 networks. Additional evidence suggests that premature adoption of IPv6 ... could result in unnecessary costs and reduced information technology security.''

Despite this assessment, the report hints at additional federal funding for IPv6-related research and development.

"The federal government will need to consider allocation of new resources and to work cooperatively with non-federal authorities and the private sector to address outstanding IPv6 research and development issues, and to expedite the development of suitable deployment, coexistence and transition plans,'' the report says.

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

The Commerce Department's IPv6 Task Force was created in response to a 2003 White House report on cyberspace security. The task force was charged with conducting a cost/benefit analysis on whether the transition to IPv6 should be accelerated to provide enhanced cyberspace security.

The task force's report, entitled "Technical and Economic Assessment of Internet Protocol Version 6,'' outlines the benefits of IPv6, including more address space, end-to-end security and easier network administration. Nonetheless, the report recommends a go-slow approach to federal agencies and enterprises looking to migrate to IPv6.

The Commerce Department's cautious approach to IPv6 seems at odds with a mandate by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that all federal agencies must run IPv6 on their network backbones by June 2008. The OMB mandate, issued last August, follows a similar requirement that the Defense Department issued in 2003 to have all military networks transitioned to IPv6 by fiscal year 2008.

"Despite this report from the Commerce Department, the OMB is providing leadership to assist agencies to adhere to the mandate to move to IPv6,'' says Jim Bound, chair of the North American IPv6 Task Force and a senior fellow with HP. "OMB in the last seven months has done more than anyone else to proliferate IPv6 in the government and help with the mandate.''