Agencies lag in preparedness for upgraded Internet

Federal agencies face a deadline this week to show the Office of Management and Budget how prepared they are to switch to the next generation Internet.

Depending on who you consult, the current Internet will run out of addresses sometime between 2009 and 2012. The new system is known to computer engineers as IPv6 or Internet protocol version 6.

"IPv6 isn't a technology, it's an addressing scheme," explained Ron Schwarz, director of operations for federal civilian agencies for Cisco Systems, which paid for a readiness survey of federal IT works. It was released Monday by Market Communications.

The survey found that the challenge, left largely to the IT employees, is to ensure all the computers and servers are compatible with the new system. OMB is asking the different agencies to turn in a second inventory Tuesday of their equipment and whether it is IPv6 compatible.

The survey of 200 IT managers found less than 2 percent have completed their IPv6 planning processes and 14 percent have begun implementing the plan to comply with the new Internet.

More than one third of those surveyed have not started either planning or implementing and will not begin until fiscal 2007.

Funding topped the list of challenges to implementing compatible equipment followed by a lack of time and experienced staff.

Aaron Heffron, vice president of Market Connections, said the survey showed that IT departments are faced with "a lot of different mandates from the federal government to comply with things."

He said preparedness to switch to IPv6 comes down to an issue of budget and time priorities.

"Is it FISMA compliance or IPv6?" said Heffron citing two mandates challenging IT workers. The Federal Information Security Management Act has been a focus lately as federal agencies are challenged to show they are adequately protecting sensitive information.

The survey showed that IT managers viewed security as the most important benefit of the next-generation Internet.

Heffron noted that the survey was conducted during May when a lot of high profile security breaches were in the news.

"It will improve security because security measures are integrated into it rather than added on like [the current Internet system]," Heffron said.

Schwartz said IPv6 improves security because it has a larger address space containing more bits and more bits make it tougher for a hacker.

The Defense Department is leading the other agencies in switching to the new Internet, which Schwartz said makes sense as the Pentagon has had a two-year head start.

Heffron said one trend found in the survey is that most federal IT departments are doing their own planning, but will turn to contractors when it comes to switching the backbone of their networks to IPv6.

"If they're going to do something that impacts them architecturally, they're going to want third-party evaluation," Schwarz said.