France, US Discuss IPv6

PARIS -- Officials from the French Military Procurement Agency (DGA), the Communications-Electronics Research Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC), United States Army, IPv6 Forum, National IPv6 Task Force of France, and North American IPv6 Task Force met for two days over the last month to discuss the deployment state and technology benefits of the new Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). Representatives from the two defense agencies agreed to jointly explore the introduction, transition, and eventual implementation of IPv6 to help support the evolution of network centric operations communication systems. The meetings were successful, and the defense agencies, IPv6 Forum, National IPv6 Task Force of France, and North American IPv6 Task Force will pursue additional collaboration efforts on IPv6.

Since 2003, both defense agencies have defined similar policies for the integration and transition to the new standard established by the IETF, since the mid-90s, following concerns regarding the limitations of the existing Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4). IPv6 will be an enabler for the network centric operations vision, and both agencies are planning to implement the standard. The two-day meeting revolved predominantly around the importance of sharing best case use practices, information-exchange on studies, and network pilot trials implemented. The objective is to ultimately support interoperable network communications between these two agencies from an interoperability profile.

Larry Levine, Program Director for Next Generation Networks, US Army Space and Terrestrial Communications Directorate, CERDEC said, "IPv6 will enable the realization of new networking-centric warfare concepts and doctrines while improving the scalability, robustness, security, and manageability of military communication systems."

"As IPv6 enhances a wide spectrum of the technical criteria required by military communication systems and as commercial products increasingly incorporate IPv6, the obvious choice for military agencies is to incorporate IPv6, which will provide new possibilities for sophisticated communications and networking interoperability to serve advanced military operations," said Jim Bound, Chief Technology Officer IPv6 Forum, and Chairman North American IPv6 Task Force.

"IPv6 advantages, such as stateless node discovery, will lead to next generation networks capabilities for military network centric operations, like seamless mobility and end-to-end security," added Yanick Pouffary, Fellow IPv6 Forum and Co-Technology Director North American IPv6 Task Force.

"The NATO-INSC (Interoperable Network for Secure Communications) project launched three years ago with 8 NATO countries including France and US provided us with a promising glimpse of IPv6 potential, even within the context of its integration and interoperability within existing IPv4 networks. As a result, we were able to build on this experience a concrete IPv6 transition plan that we are currently rolling out," said Michaël Pascaud, Chief Telecommunication Branch, DGA SPOTI.

"This collaboration signals a significant step forward as it means that both countries' defense industry are beginning seriously to identify important criteria that could invariably lead to well-defined project tenders for IPv6-ready products and services. By specifying that IPv6 is mandatory from the design phase, defense agencies play an important role in optimizing associated investments in this move as efficient transition begins with the purchase of IPv6-ready solutions from the beginning. Use of IPv6 in a system need to be decided on a case by case basis, depending on operational and economical implications," added Patrick Cocquet, Chairman of the French IPv6 Task Force, Vice-President of the IPv6 Forum.

IPv6 Forum