A Sneak Preview of the US IPv6 Summit 2004: Who’s Coming to Town, and Why
by Alex Lightman, Chairman, US IPv6 Summit 2004

Attendance registration is ahead of the last three IPv6 Summits our team organized (in San Diego, June 2003, Arlington, Dec. 2003, and Santa Monica, June 2004)  for four major reasons: the return of the Dept. of Defense to Internet leadership; the requirement to develop IPv6 transition plans by the individual services and other US government agencies; participation in the special meetings to be held Dec. 9; and the emergence of software and services companies as the core drivers of the IPv6 industry. Let’s look more closely at each.

The Department of Defense has resumed its vital leadership role for the Internet, including appointing an agency (DISA) and a person (Dr. Charles Lynch) to be in charge and providing, for the first time, an actual budget for planning purposes. Authentic leadership energizes people, companies, and other government agencies. Leadership at the DoD, backed by $25 billion in IT spending and a mandate to include IPv6 in virtually all purchases, energizes dozens of companies and thousands of forward looking people. Many attendees, if not most, are attending the US IPv6 Summit 2004 in order to hear Dr. Lynch and nearly 20 speakers and panelists related to DoD make their presentations, and, if possible, meet them personally

Every branch of the services, and several government agencies, have responsibilities for completing IPv6 transition plans. Given that the mandate for IPv6 was announced in June 13, 2003, it’s shocking that dedicated funds for the individual services won’t be provided until Fiscal 2006. The Army’s John Shipp (a panelist for Thursday’s afternoon session, on Dec. 9) said at our IPv6 Summit in Santa Monica this past June, with respect to mandating IPv6 without budgeting, “A vision without resources is an illusion.” Somehow, even in the midst of the massive challenges of Iraq and the uncertainty of elections, as well as the resignations of the DoD CIO and his top IPv6 deputy, as well as the transfer of the most visible uniformed IPv6 leader (Major Roswell Dixon) to Iraq, dedicated teams scrounged the resources to make their plans. The Department of Homeland Security has also mandated IPv6, though there has been a debate about whether to set the goal to be two years ahead of the DoD, or two years behind. Many Internet leaders within their branches want to see, hear, and discuss the DoD’s overall IPv6 transition plan, and then complete their plan so that it dovetails with the DoD’s larger one, and the best place to do this is at the US IPv6 Summit, the only time and place that will bring just about everyone together.

There will be special meetings, chaired by Dr. Chuck Lynch on Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2004. The first will be a meeting for U.S. government CIOs and others who meets the DoD’s criteria, 11:45-13:15, and the second will be an industry meeting, 14:00-15:30. While pre-registration for these meetings is required, attendees are not required to pay to attend the IPv6 Summit in order to gain access to the meetings, as long as they meet the DoD’s qualifications for attendance.

More companies than ever before have agreed to be sponsors at the US IPv6 Summit 2004 than ever before, including a number of new companies. They have signed up to sponsor, exhibit, and otherwise support the DoD IPv6 efforts, both at the US IPv6 Summit 2004 and afterwards. Most of these are software, services, training, and consulting companies, and understand that a massive upgrading of “wetware” (human thinking, imagination) is necessary to create thousands of new applications to make IPv6 more useful. SI International, Houston Associates, and Booz Allen Hamilton have gone from the extreme periphery of IPv6ing to being, along with the Dept. of Defense, the very core of IPv6 across a spectrum of activities – definitions, standards, transition plan drafting, applications, interoperability, etc.

I asked a few dozen people why they go to conferences, including our US IPv6 Summit, and the answer, in a word, was, “Networking,” as in talking with people to gather information, make alliances, get business or delegate it, and share successes. To help those who are still trying to justify attending this summit to their colleagues, look at the networking possibilities of interacting with any or all of the great people from these organizations. Note that this is a partial list, drawn from the pre-registrations that account for fewer than half of the people we estimate will end up attending.

US Department of Defense:

Air Force, including AFCA, AF Materiel Command, AF Research Laboratory, USAF Warfighting Integration;
Army, including CERDEC, Joint Interoperability Test Command;
Marines, including MC Systems Command;
Navy, including SPAWAR and Navy IPv6 Project Office;
Cross-service, including Defense Information Systems Agency, incl. GE2, PAC; Defense Logistics Agency,
HF Global Communications SPO, J6, G6, OASD Reserve Affairs, TRICARE.

US Government:

Department of Veterans Affairs, Federal Aviation Administration, Dept. of Homeland Security, including U. S. Coast Guard; Dept. of Commerce, including US Patent and Trademark Office, National Security Agency.

Foreign Government:

Embassy of Australia, Embassy of United Kingdom, Embassy of Germany, German Ministry of Defense, Embassy of Japan, Singapore Defense Science and Technology Agency.

Industry:

Agilent Technologies, Alaxala Networks, Avaya, Bechtel, Boeing, Booz Allen Hamilton, Chenega Technology Services, Cisco Systems, Clark, Clearsight Networks, Computer Networks and Software, Datatek Applications, EMC, Enterprise Business Solutions, Inc., Federal Computer Week, Fonds de Solidarite, Freeman, Foundry Networks, Galaxy Scientific, Government Computer News, Green Hills Software, Harris, Hexago, Houston Associates, IABG, IDG, INADEV, Interpeak, IP Infusion, Lucent Technologies, Lumeta, Marconi, MCI, Microsoft, Mitsubishi Research Institute, Native6, Net.com, NextHop, Nokia, Nortel Networks, Northrop Grumman, NTT Communications, NTT/Verio, Panoram Technologies, Radware, Raytheon, RTR, SafeNet, SAIC, SELECT INNOVATION, SHARON, SI International, Spirent Communications, Spirent Federal Systems, Sprint, Sprint Government Systems, SRI International, Sunset Learning, TDS, Tekelec, Teleglobe, Telos, Televerage International, Titan, TLA Associates Inc, True North Solutions, VeriSign, Verizon, WareOnEarth Communications, White Consulting.

Academia:

Auburn University, Colorado Technical University, George Mason University, Georgia Tech, Johns Hopkins University, New York University, San Diego State University, University of California/Cal-(IT)2, University of New Hampshire/IOL, University of Alaska, University of Maribor (Slovenia), University of Tokyo.

Nonprofit:

Convergent Technology Alliance, CTA, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, Internet2, Information Systems Security Association, MITRE Corporation, RAND.

A “snapshot” of the attendees:
Geographically, 90% are from North America, 6% from Asia, 2% from Europe, and 1% each from Africa and Australia.

Organizationally, 35% are from Industry, 26% from (civilian) government, 17% from military, 5% academia, and 17% “other” (including some researchers on behalf of government/military as well as press and staff for the Summit).

With respect to job responsibilities and IPv6, 16% say they are involved in setting standards, 60% say they are responsible for gathering more information, and 24% are involved in purchasing or “other.”

Speakers Include:

Dr. Vinton G. Cerf Dr. Yeoh Lean Weng Yurie Rich John Spence Jean-Francois Trembly Michael P. Brig Zlata Trhulj Carl E. Williams Richard Graveman Peter Atanasovski Sinead O’Donovan

Dr. Charles Lynch Carl E. Williams Dr. Eric Frost Willie Hernandez Gary Hemminger Hiroshi Esaki Sue Hares Alan Sekelsky Ed Cain Dave Coe Victoria Fineberg Cynthia Martin

Dr. Lawrence Roberts James Schifalacqua Denise Kruger Marty Beckman Jeffrey Dunn Bill Manning Vivian Pecus Bill Kine Joe Schlesselman Capt. Dan Millane Shawn Smith John Crain

Yves Poppe Wolfgang Fritsche Bill Cerveny Dr. Eric Frost Steve Egolf Siafa Sherman Carl E. Williams Mark Evans Vijay Ganti Felix Yao

Topics Include: