CIO council adds to IPv6 transition primer
Connecting state and local government leaders
In the newest additions to the IPv6 Transition Guidance, the council's Architecture and Infrastructure Committee has provided a list of best practices and transition elements that agencies should use as they work to meet the deadline.
'The big takeaway is to get to that consistent set of definitions and terminology so we're all working on the same problem and scope.' JOHN MCMANUS, AIC SUBCOMMITTEE ON EMERGING TECHNOLOGY
Rick Steele
In the newest additions to the
IPv6 Transition Guidance, the
council's Architecture and Infrastructure
Committee has provided
a list of best practices and
transition elements that agencies
should use as they work to meet
the deadline.
'The big takeaway is to get to
that consistent set of definitions
and terminology so we're all
working on the same problem
and scope,' said John McManus,
NASA's chief technology officer
and chairman of AIC's subcommittee
on emerging technology.
The document 'gives people a
common structure and common
set of terms.'
But the document itself stated
that there are few success stories
to draw from because of the limited
experience in IPv6 transition,
meaning that, for the most part,
agencies could be on their own.
'Since IPv6 is the 'next generation'
Internet protocol and introduces
new standards, agencies
are faced with the challenge of
limited IPv6 transition 'success
stories' on which to model their
enterprise transformation strategy,'
the document said.
These unknowns have some industry
officials concerned that
the definitions in the guidebook
are not specific enough and do
not connect with the initial
guidebook's release tying agency
transition plans to their enterprise
architectures.
The transition elements are
more a list of concerns and what
to look out for instead of specific
solutions, said Walt Grabowski,
senior director of network solutions
at SI International of
Reston, Va., the company
managing the Defense Department's
transition.
OMB and the council released
the first chapter of the
guidance last November, urging
agencies to incorporate the transition
to IPv6 in their enterprise
architectures. OMB also required
agencies to complete IPv6
progress reports in February. By
June 30, they are to complete an
inventory of IP-aware applications
and peripherals on their
network backbones, and produce
an IPv6 transition impact analysis
[GCN, Dec. 12, 2005, Page 1].
The latest additions, released in
May, are a compilation of existing
recommendations and best practices
gathered from the Defense
Department, which has been
testing and preparing for the
transition for years, the private
sector, and the Internet research
and development community.
For instance, the document
urged agencies to perform adequate
testing and training to
ensure that the transition is
successful.
Also, agencies must start developing
an information security
plan in accordance with the Federal
Information Security Management
Act and other government
statutes, the council said.
Agencies will need to replicate
security applications being used
in the current IPv4, the council
said, and agencies must identify
public-key infrastructure, key
management and policy management
infrastructures that
meet the scalability and security
verification requirements for
intra-network communications.
But the document lacks
specifics, Grabowski said, which
could leave agencies hanging as
they incorporate IPv6 transition
plans into their EAs.
Grabowski said the transition
elements section does not have
the larger enterprise architectural
picture.
McManus, though, said the
guidance was well vetted within
the council and various IPv6
working groups, and he disputes
any notion that it is incomplete.
'We have done a tremendous
amount of outreach,' he said. 'We
put the definitions out there' for
public comment.
Grabowksi said the document
is a good beginning and will need
to mature as the transition becomes
a reality.
'It's a good start, you're starting
from nothing,' Grabowksi said.
'I would expect the level of understanding, maturity and depth will match the enterprise architecture view of this.'
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