Government IPv6: What to Expect in 2011
DGI's 2010 Government IPv6 Conference was the largest IPv6 event to date, and we believe the largest IPv6 event serving the government IT Community.
Peter Tseronis, Chairperson, Federal IPv6 Task Force and Senior Advisor, U.S. Department of 
Energy (pictured right) presented the opening keynote session "Transition to IPv6 - New Policies and Guidance". According to an article written by GCN as a result of the conference “There is no funding allocated to agencies to upgrade to IPv6,” Tseronis said. Agencies must integrate the new protocols into their IT and business plans. “You need to know what you want to use it for," he said. Read the article. And read DGI's Executive Insight interview with Peter on on Making a Seamless Move to IPv6.
John Curran, President and Chief Executive Officer, American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) (pictured left) discussed "Where do we Go From Here?" Curran said, as reported by GCN, the pool of available IPv4 addresses is down to less than 5 percent of the original 4.3 billion. The pool is expected to dry up globally as early as May, 2011. Curran said dual stack systems—systems enabled to work with both IPv4 and IPv6 versions—will continue to be necessary on the Internet for decades. Read the article.
A panel of speakers also addressed "IPv6 Product Acquisition: An Update on the Status of IPv6 Products, FAR Language and the USGv6 Testing Program". Ric Chavez, senior manager of Cisco Systems' global government solutions group (pictured right in center), said there has been an increase in interest in the functionality in the last six months, since it became a requirement under the Federal Acquisition Regulations, as reported by GCN. Read the article. Ric spoke on a panel with Chuck Lynch, Director, Office of Portfolio Analysis, NIH (standing at podium) and Guy Snyder, Secure Communications Program Manager, ICSA Labs (far right).
The session titled "IPv6 in Operation Today: Experiences and Lessons Learned from IPv6 Implementers" featured John Baird, IPv6 Transition Manager, Defense Research and Engineering Network (DREN) (pictured left in center) who told Federal News Radio "We took our entire nationwide backbone which at the time was 100 sites, now it's 200 sites, [and] dual-stack enabled it. That's the operations, the security, the configuration management, we have our own network operations center, our own Computer Emergency Readiness Team. We didn't turn it off, and do some ping tests, we've been running 24/7 since 2003." Read the article and listen to the 6-minute audio clip from Baird's presentation. John spoke on a panel with Steve Pirzchalski, IPv6 Transition Manager, Department Veteran Affairs (standing at podium) and Chris Spears, Senior Network Planning Architect, Internet2 (far right).
The Networking Expo
 John Lee with Internet Associates (right) talks with an attendee. |
 Greg McDermott with Mu Dynamics (center) talks with attendees. |
 Martn Levy, Hurricane Electric (left), John Curran, ARIN (center), and Dale Geesey, Auspex Technologies (right). |
 Kenny Burroughs, Internet Associates (left) talks with an attendee. |
 Guy Snyder, ICSA Labs (center) talks with attendees. |
 John Baird, DREN (right) talks with an attendee after his panel presentation. |
Slideshow
View a slideshow of more event photos online here.
What Attendees Said
About the 2010 Government IPv6 Conference:
- "Good overall snapshot of where IPv6 rollout stands."
- "I enjoyed the ability to interact with others in the IPv6 implementation community."
- "Good speakers that are well informed in subject matter."
- "I left having a good foundation of the topic and knowledge of what to do next."
- "Opportunity to keep current with progress was helpful. I made some new contacts, and got information I can use."
- "Lots of good information."
- "Awesome - told why we need to go to IPv6."
