The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is requiring all federal agencies to transition at least 80% of their enterprises to Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) by 2025. Here Aptive Program Director and IPv6 Lead Ralph Wallace explains the importance of IPv6 and some of the issues related to the transition.
What is IPv6 and why is it important?
IPv6 is the next generation of Internet protocol to replace the current protocol that no longer supports the Internet and inadequately supports IT enterprises worldwide. Its design is based on lessons learned from severe design inadequacies and limitations of the original protocol now in use, IPv4. IPv6 enhances the opportunity to address trillions and trillions of networkable devices and applications into the 22nd century.
Why is the federal government mandating agencies to adopt IPv6?
The U.S. government started the transition to IPv6 in 2005, repeated the call in 2010 and in 2021 established the final mandate. The technical rationale is that IPv6 is faster than IPv4, reduces administrative overhead by flattening network typologies, increases security, decreases capital expenditures and enables true end-to-end connections for applications. It also allows people to manage their enterprise in a very concrete and granular fashion that provides a quality of service opportunity IPv4 could never guarantee.
In this podcast with FORUM (formerly FedHealthIT), program director and IPv6 lead, Ralph Wallace, discusses the importance, impact and future of Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). As the most recent version of Internet Protocol (IP), the transition from IPv4 to IPv6 will allow for more globally unique IP addresses to accommodate the constant growth of smart devices and connectivity.
What happens to agencies that can’t meet the 2025 deadline? Can they get extensions?
It would be a black eye for the chief information officer who failed to meet the deadline. People should start the process and the federal government will recognize that they’re working toward that 2025 goal and managing that transition. There won’t be extensions.
What challenges do agencies face in transitioning to IPv6 and how can they overcome them?
A key challenge is finding experienced people with an in-depth knowledge of IPv6 and how to accomplish each part of the transition. Agencies need to bring subject matter experts (SMEs) on board and develop a training plan for staff dedicated to the transition.
Where are the majority of agencies in the transition process? What agencies are taking the lead?
One third of all federal agencies are fully engaged, one third are actively working toward the objectives and another third have plans in place and are gradually assigning resources to plan their path. The Treasury Department is among the government organizations taking the lead, along with the Departments of Education, Interior and Commerce.
What are some best practices for transitioning to IPv6? What are we learning from agencies leading the charge on this?
Lessons learned corroborate the best practices. A best practice is to establish and maintain an appropriate engineering lifecycle tied directly to a professional program management office. IPv6 is a huge technology insertion into the technological enterprise. Government agencies will have challenges if they don’t have good program management practices in place. Another is to bring in IPv6 SMEs to provide guidance and specifications and allow your respective staff members to learn from them.
What is the private sector doing about IPv6?
Large companies are embracing IPv6, as they should. Many of the large data sources — for example, Google and LinkedIn — are using IPv6 already because it’s faster, easier to manage and has better cybersecurity. They’re ahead of their competitors. Medium-sized to small vendors are stuck in their development lifecycle and as yet don’t see the immediate value — i.e., profit — in changing their technical approach.
What are some helpful resources for guidance about IPv6?
Talk with people who have made the journey and come out the other side, such as leaders from the already mentioned federal departments. In the private sector, these include folks from Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft and Wells Fargo, in addition to Google and LinkedIn. They have good best practices in place. You can also do a Google search for books written about IPv6 — some of which are highly technical. Just make sure the resource you choose isn’t a recipe or cookbook: it has to meet your specific company’s IT needs.
As program director and IPv6 lead at Aptive, Ralph leads a 40-person team through the IPv6 transition under the OMB Memo M-21-07 for a cabinet-level agency. The memo requires the federal government to complete the transition to IPv6. Ralph is internationally recognized as an IPv6 subject matter expert. The IPv6 Forum designated him an IPv6 Deployment World Leader, and he has been inducted into the international IPv6 Hall of Fame. Ralph contributed significantly to the latest federal government directive to move all federal agencies to IPv6-only enterprises by 2025. Over the past 13 years, he has led various federal cross-organizational teams in their respective enterprise transition to IPv6, including every aspect of the transition from technical to logistical and programmatic. Ralph has more than 40 years of technology experience in executive and systems engineering leadership; engineering, portfolio, program and project management; and capture management.
