IPv6 vs. Y2K and GOSIP

IPv6 upgrade has more in common with old GOSIP program than Year 2000 efforts

Although the IPv6 upgrade is sometimes compared to the Year 2000 date change, the two IT-related deadlines have little in common. (Read about"How the feds are dropping the ball on IPv6") IPv6 is a long-anticipated upgrade to the Internet’s main communications protocol known as IPv4.

Y2K spawned congressional hearings, increased federal IT budgets and was well-known among non-techies.

The federal government's IPv6 upgrade, on the other hand, is happening quietly behind the scenes with little additional funding or fanfare. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has directed all federal agencies to be capable of supporting IPv6 on their network backbones by June 30, 2008.

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Although the IPv6 upgrade is sometimes compared to the Year 2000 date change, the two IT-related deadlines have little in common. (Read about"How the feds are dropping the ball on IPv6") IPv6 is a long-anticipated upgrade to the Internet’s main communications protocol known as IPv4.

Y2K spawned congressional hearings, increased federal IT budgets and was well-known among non-techies.

The federal government's IPv6 upgrade, on the other hand, is happening quietly behind the scenes with little additional funding or fanfare. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has directed all federal agencies to be capable of supporting IPv6 on their network backbones by June 30, 2008.

Insiders say the IPv6 mandate doesn't seem to be at the top of most federal CIOs' agendas.

"I don't see any kind of Y2K-like panic" among federal CIOs about the IPv6 mandate, says Charles Lee, CTO for Verizon Federal. "Getting compliant with the OMB requirement is not that hard."

Some long-time industry observers are comparing the federal government's IPv6 mandate to an earlier federal mandate for a now-defunct network technology called GOSIP, or Government Open Systems Interconnection Profile.

"The government's IPv6 mandate looks like the GOSIP mandate from the early 1990s," says Doug Junkins, vice president of IP development for NTT America's Global IP Network business unit. "The entire U.S. government market was supposed to move to the ISO protocols. Then the government people looked at GOSIP, and everyone stayed on IP. And that is where we are now."

While GOSIP was a failure, IPv6 probably won't be, experts say.

IPv6 uses 128-bit addresses and can support a virtually limitless number of IP addresses. It was designed to replace IPv4, which uses 32-bit addresses and supports 4 billion IP addresses. With IPv6, more devices can be connected directly to the Internet. IPv6 also promises to support new network management, mobility and security features.

"IPv6 has one huge thing that it addresses: address space," Junkins says. "There are more motivating factors for IPv6 than there were for GOSIP."

Some industry observers predict IPv6 will eventually be deployed in the federal market, even if it’s much later than June 2008.

"In the federal space, what’s going to drive IPv6 are things like mobility and wireless infrastructure," says Paul Girardi, engineering team lead for AT&T Government Solutions. The Defense Department "is pushing the envelope for IPv6 primarily for their need for IPv6 addresses. They wish to address lots of elements in the battlefield, such as tanks and sensors. They’re going to have a bigger appetite for addresses."

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