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| The Army IPv6 Evolution 
The Impact of IPv6 for the Army IPv6 is expected to provide the foundation to solve the fundamental limitations of today's technology which hinders network-centric operations. IPv6 will let data travel efficiently and facilitate delivering "Simplistic Order from Chaos" created by the explosion of information being created, stored and shared realtime across the global battlefield. The Warfighter is becoming a mobile sensor platform that provides remote total awareness of the operational environment. IPv6 enables the secure automated movement between ubiquitous connection points and enables the warfighter to realize enhancements that will increase operational effectiveness. Examples of areas critical to net-centricity and the Future Force that are being explored for potential operational benefits to the Army include enhanced capabilities for mobility, end-to-end security, multicast and auto-configurations. The operational tempo of battle today, as recently demonstrated during Operation Iraqi Freedom, is fast paced and highly mobile. IPv6 allows network elements to "break and make" connections in a continuous, seamless manner transparent to the user. With additional IPv6 capabilities, such as auto-configuration and multiple address assignments to an interface, users can roam throughout an extended three-dimensional battle space while seamlessly maintaining communications. Due to the challenge caused by low bandwidth tactical networks, it is especially important for network traffic to be disseminated as efficiently as possible and multicasting is one part of the overall solution. With IPv6, the network planning and configuration becomes much easier due to the increased number of available multicast addresses and the ability to assign multiple addresses to an interface. IPv6 Policy
On Aug. 2, 2005, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a memo titled, Transition Planning for Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6), which established a policy for the transition of the overall US Federal Government to IPv6. The policy requires that all agencies immediately begin transition planning activities and sets June 2008 for all agency network backbone to be using IPv6. Army IPv6 Transition Strategy
- Identify appropriate transition mechanisms and deployment strategy - Identify critical path of testing, modeling & simulation - Synchronize the enterprise - Develop "cut-over" strategy Phase II is expected to begin in 2010 and run through 2013. The Army plans to minimize the amount of time large deployments of IPv4 and IPv6 coexist to reduce estimated increases in operational costs for managing dual-stacked networks. The primary IPv6 transition activities occurring in Phase II include:
- According to "cutover" strategy determined in Phase 1 - IPv6 becomes dominant protocol Army IPv6 Transition Management Structure
The ITPWG is tri-chaired by the Army Chief Information Officer; Deputy Chief of Staff (CIO/G-6); the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology), (ASA(ALT)); and the Network Engineering Technology Command (NETCOM). The ITPWG full-body membership includes representatives from key organizations as well as optional membership for representatives from individual PEOs, Program Managers (PMs), MACOMs and from OSD and each of the Services. In addition to being responsible for providing governance for the Army transition to IPv6, the ITPWG has the task of providing outreach and education to the various Army stakeholders through the Army IPv6 Transition Task Force (ITTF). Membership of the ITTF includes all of the same organizations as the ITPWG, but the ITTF members are more closely involved with the technical aspects of the IPv6 transition. The Army plans to utilize existing technical working groups to solve specific IPv6 related issues where possible and will form IPv6 specific working groups as necessary. Challenges and Impacts to the Army
Migration of applications is a complex and difficult area of transition. Business and institutional systems migrations are dependent on commercial vendors support and implementation of IPv6. Standards for many advanced IPv6 capabilities (especially for tactical wireless, security, QOS and transition mechanisms) are still in development and are not expected to be completed prior to initial deployment of IPv6 into Operational environments. The figure above shows a comparison of when advanced IPv6 capabilities will be available versus when specific Army programs are expected to be fielded. The DoD will need to partner with industry to achieve a successful transition and to meet target goals and milestones. The Army has developed a transition strategy and an IPv6 Transition Plan that will continue to evolve as the Army moves closer to the implementation of IPv6. The Army has been working very closely with the DoD IPv6 Transition Office. The Navy and the Air Force to agree on joint approaches to the transition to minimize the overall costs and maximize the new capabilities achieved during the transition to IPv6 within the DoD and the Federal Government. |
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Based on the direction
from ASD(NII), the Army CIO, LTG Steve Boutelle has issued two memorandums
on IPv6 implementation. The first "Army Implementation of DoD Internet
Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) Mandate" in November 2003 reiterated the
DoD IPv6 policy and directed programs to identify their costs to become
IPv6 "capable" and transition to IPv6. All Program Executive
Officers (PEOs), Major Commands (MACOMs) and the Installation Management
Activity (IMA) were directed to identify resourcing requirements. The
second memorandum "Additional Guidance on IPv6 – FY08 Goal"
released in April 2004 acknowledges the cost of meeting the goal and provides
additional guidance to assist Army implementers in mitigating the cost.
