Networx Carriers Are Warned They Could Lose Federal Agencies’ IPv6 Work
Any Networx contractors that can’t start fulfilling client agencies’ requests for IPv6 work risk losing that work to competitors, a Defense Department official told us. “Discussions in various forums are underway to try to resolve this,” Ron Broersma, a member of the Federal IPv6 Task Force, said by email. “However, if I had my way I wouldn’t wait around for every Networx customer to ask for IPv6 service, but would instead use a top-down approach and ask every Carrier to deploy IPv6 service NOW to every Federal customer, since all will need the IPv6 connectivity to achieve the Federal mandates. If the Carriers can’t deliver, then the Agencies have the choice to switch Carriers.” Broersma spoke last week in San Jose, Calif., at the Gogonet Live conference on IPv6 implementation, about agencies’ poor start on meeting a September 2012 adoption deadline (CD Nov 3 p8). He’s the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command’s network security manager.
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"Numerous Federal Agencies use the Networx contract to achieve Internet services, and in many cases have been unable to get IPv6 service from their existing Carrier,” Broersma wrote after the conference. “Since a requirement of the Networx contract is that they must be able to support IPv6, it comes as a surprise that most of these Carriers are unable to provide the service when requested. They should be able to simply dual-stack their existing connection. Inability to obtain IPv6 service from these Carriers seriously impacts the … mandate to IPv6-enable all public facing services across the Federal Government by Sept 2012.” He declined repeatedly to identify the carriers.
AT&T, CenturyLink, Level 3, Sprint and Verizon are certified for Networx. None got back to us with comment on their IPv6 capabilities, duties or statements in relation to federal agencies. Neither did the task force chairman or representatives of the GSA, which issued the contracts, or the White House.
Broersma also put the pace of federal IPv6 progress in a broader context than he had in his conference presentation. “There are challenges all over the place, not just limited to federal agencies, and they are being appropriately addressed,” he said. “The Federal government should be applauded for its leadership by mandating IPv6 deployment with deadlines. Whenever you are plowing new ground, you are going to hit bumps along the way, often in unsuspected places. We need to find those early and get them resolved, which was the point I was trying to make. Everyone is trying hard, so we shouldn’t cast a negative light on everyone’s hard efforts to make this work."
The president of the IPv6 Forum backed up Broersma’s sentiments and heaped praise on his role in advancing the technology. The U.S. government “has been the pioneer in this effort since the creation of the North American IPv6 Task Force back in 2001 in Charleston,” S.C., with Broersma as the “key player,” Latif Ladid said by email. “Ron is the most respected IPv6 researcher and hands-on implementer in the world.” Broersma “is obviously feared by vendors as he discovers hidden stuff” no one else would and goes “public with it,” Ladid said. “He is the best thing that has ever happened to IPv6 as he is a kind of guardian angel for everyone. He is free from any vendor agenda and also demands excellence from his peers and the USG agencies. … The USG has a lot to win by listening to Ron and the agencies should simply follow his example.” If they did, “they would be in very good shape to meet the deadlines and place the US on top of the crowd.”