The General Services Administration, Education Department, Agriculture Department and Veterans Affairs Department are among those that have certified that their networks can handle IPv6 data, Tim Young, deputy administrator for e-government and information technology at the Office of Management and Budget, told Federal Times.
IPv6 will mean a vast increase in Internet addresses so that the proliferating number of Internet-capable devices — telephones, personal computers, BlackBerrys and the like — can all have their own Web addresses.
Other agencies have also reported they are on track to meet the IPv6 deadline that OMB set three years ago, Young said.
Young credited good collaboration among agencies as the chief reason that most will meet the deadline. Agencies worked together through the Chief Information Officers Council, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and industry to make sure they built an IT infrastructure that could handle both the next generation of Internet protocols and today’s Internet, IPv4, he said.
The biggest challenge for agencies so far has been the fact that IPv6 is in its infancy, Young said.
There simply isn’t a lot of technology out there unique to IPv6, said Michael Simpson, a senior manager for SI International of Reston, Va.
“Companies are not investing heavily yet because they are waiting to see if government is making the investment,” Simpson said. “The value of this [OMB] mandate is to kick-start … a demand for it.”
SI International has come out with some IPv6-enabled tools for agencies to use. One is a suite of facilities-management sensors that allow agencies to retrofit old buildings to save energy without having to do major reconstruction, Simpson said.
The sensors detect motion, temperature and other environmental factors and relay that information wirelessly to a central program that automatically controls lighting, air conditioning, heating or other environmental factors in the building based on the feedback, he said. The technology can also be tied to products like Google Earth, allowing managers to view where different sensors are in the building and what readings they’re giving at any moment, Simpson said.
GSA is looking at installing the technology in the older buildings it manages in order to save energy and money, Simpson said. The sensors could save GSA up to 30 percent by allowing the agency to understand where its energy is being used and how to manage it more smartly, he said.
IPv6 enables these sensors to tap into the Internet and operate with minimal threat of being hacked, Simpson said.
Even without a wide array of IPv6-unique uses, the transition to IPv6 is a necessity, said Larry Newman, director of sales at Axis Communications, a Massachusetts company that offers IP-based network video products. The current Internet system, IPv4, is running out of address space and its 4 billion addresses could be fully utilized by 2015, said Newman, who spoke last week at the Security Industry Association’s Public Policy Conference in Washington.
Much the same way telephone companies have turned to 10-digit dialing to solve the phone number shortage, IPv6 lengthens the Internet addresses to create more space for the growing number of devices connecting in an increasingly wireless environment, Simpson said.
Under IPv6, “there are not only enough numbers for every person on Earth but there are enough numbers for every atom of every person on Earth,” Simpson said.
In building the new address system, IPv6’s creators also built in features to enhance security and simplify network administration.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Reeta Toivanen & Elise Castelli
Quelle/Source: Federal Times, 17.06.2008
