Last week the US Federal CIO Council released an updated version of their IPv6 planning guide/roadmap. Available as a PDF download from cio.gov, the 73-page document provides a wealth of IPv6 information to both US government agencies and also to operators, enterprises and others seeking to understand exactly what the US government is doing with IPv6.
This July 2012 document updates and replaces the 2009 version of the roadmap. It does not specifically list what has been updated, but provides this note:
This document is the latest version of the Roadmap, and is the key guidance document for supporting Federal agencies in their achievement of the 2012 and 2014 objectives, as well as the strategic vision for beyond 2014. This document has the same foundational elements instituted in the original Roadmap, and has been updated to reflect the three years of experience (from both the public and private sectors) since original publication. The sections of the document comprise all aspects of a successful transition and now include practical experience from those directly engaged in IPv6 activities, combining programmatic (including Clinger-Cohen Act compliance), technical, cybersecurity, and Federal acquisition elements, as well as the suggested interactions with other Federally mandated technical efforts such as the Trusted Internet Connection (TIC).
True to that statement, updated references can be found throughout the document. I found it particularly interesting to see section 1.4, “Our Business Situation,” at the beginning of the document that provided a list from a competitive point of view of what other countries around the world are doing with regard to IPv6.
The sample transition timelines starting at the bottom of page 12 may be of interest to many readers, as they lay out examples of how agencies can meet upcoming September 2012 and September 2014 deadlines. Section 4 on page 22 also outlines where US federal agencies should be in 2012 and 2014.
Readers may also find Section 6 on page 32 very useful with the ideas for transition steps. Obviously, some steps are specific to US government agencies, but the ideas behind those steps could be equally useful in other context.
All in all a very useful document for US government agencies and for others seeking to understand what a large entity needs to do to make the transition.
