Executive Insight: Peter Tseronis on Making a Seamless Move to IPv6

Peter Tseronis is the chairman, Federal IPv6 Task Force, and a senior advisor, U.S. Department of Energy. He discussed "Transition to IPv6:  New Policies and Guidance" at Digital Government Institute's 2010 Government IPv6 conference.   DGI interviewed Tseronis about how government agencies can step up to the next generation Internet.

This is a “marathon implementation,” he said, not a sprint to the finish.

DGI: How will the government handle the transition to IPv6?

PT: It’s not like there’s a point in time where the Internet will stop working. Right now the Internet is primarily running on IPv4. What we are requiring agencies to do is upgrade public/external facing servers and services (e.g. web, email, DNS, ISP services, etc) to operationally use native IPv6 by the end of FY2012.

DGI: Will current agency computers be able to handle IPv6 or will upgrades be needed?

PT: People may be surprised to know that the initial IPv6 focus was presented in “The President’s National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace” released in 2003. While it’s true that the deadline for operational status is the end of FY2012, OMB and agencies have been using EA to track and manage agencies’ progress since 2006.Moreover, the federal government demonstrated support for v6 capabilities on their core network backbones in 2008. The IPv6 transition has been on the planning horizon for some time now and really represents a proactive approach. It shouldn’t be a ‘fire drill’ for anyone.

DGI: What’s the cost of moving to IPv6?

PT: It’s not about putting together a business case and requesting funding specifically for an agency transition to IPv6. Technology refresh is a practice that agencies should be doing, and in this case leveraging, to fund a transition to IPv6. Infrastructure modernization is driven by the evolution of technology and v6 simply represents one of these technology enhancements.

DGI: Who’s using IPv6?

PT: While it can be said that as a whole the USG has not been as aggressive as others in the global community in adopting IPv6, the demand is coming. Predictions are that we have less than a year until IPv4 addresses are exhausted and adopting v6 is about business continuity between the federal government and its citizens.

Yet, this is not just a defensive or reactive response. Experts also point to IPv6 as key to enabling the continued growth of smart devices and interconnected systems to support our President’s Innovation Agenda.

I’d also like to highlight the work of my colleague, Ron Broersma, within the DoD community. I believe the defense and intelligence communities have realized the benefits of IPv6, particularly in the Defense Research and Engineering Network. And, of course, NIST has been at the forefront as well In particular, the USG IPv6 Profile and associated Testing Program will enable agencies to effectively plan for and acquire IPv6-capable infrastructure.

DGI: Is training needed to adapt to IPv6?

PT: Training is clearly an important part of a successful adoption. However, I don’t think this is unique to IPv6. Those of us who have spent time in the technology field know there’s a rapid rate of change and learning to be expected as a lifelong part of the job.

DGI: What’s next?

PT:  This is truly a public-private partnership. The USG is dependent on the vendor community to make the transition to IPv6 and vice-versa.  Moreover, the transition to IPv6 is a global initiative and collaboration with the worldwide community is critical to ensuring ubiquitous Internet access. Beginning in November 2010, the Federal IPv6 Task Force will engage with agency Transition Teams to gauge progress and provide guidance.

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