The Obama administration’s federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra has set a timeline for adopting Internet Protocol version 6 for use on public servers by the end of 2012.
In a Sept. 28 memo, Kundra laid out “specific steps for agencies to expedite the operational deployment and use of IPv6.â€
The servers and services affected include web, email, DNS and ISP services. Kundra also announced each agency would appoint an IPv6 transition manager to lead the switch, as well as to “liason with the wider federal IPv6 effort as necessary,†Kundra wrote in the memo.
Kundra offered several explanations why the switch to IPv6 is necessary. Among them are increasing transparency and reducing complexity, and a focus on end-to-end network communication.
The memo also mentioned the need for “scalable†networks. IPv4, the current system, has space for 4.3 billion web addresses, but less than 6 percent of that remains open for use, The Register reported.
IPv6, also known as Next Generation Net, is an updated infrastructure of the current system that, in addition to more space, allows for better integration of smartphones and will help lay the foundation for cloud computing.
The memo comes a few days after a workshop led by Kundra and federal Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra about implementing IPv6.
That’s great! But TechCrunch just reported that the IPv4 addresses will run out in early 2011… That’s going to leave us with at least a year of problems.