Public comments invited on IPv6

The US National Institute of Standards and the National Telecommunications & Information Administration have requested public input on issues related to the deployment of Internet Protocol version 6. They are broadly interested in "the potential [costs,] uses and benefits of IPv6... current and projected penetration rates of IPv6; and...the appropriate role for the US government in the deployment..." Specific topics on which comments are invited include:

• Potential uses for IPv6's vast address pool
• Is the enlarged address pool the only "compelling reason" to migrate to IPv6? Can other improvements associated with IPv6 be emulated on IPv4 networks?
• Is there a "chicken and egg" problem in network conversion and IPv6 application development?
• Problems with the concurrent handling of IPv4 and IPv6 datastreams during the transition, and lessons learned so far from IPv6 deployments: will market forces alone be enough to drive the process? Why are some organizations choosing not to implement IPv6? What level of adoption will tip the scales in favor of IPv6?
• Do other protocol layers need to be modified to take full advantage of IPv6 (for example, TCP or UDP)?
• How to measure the state of deployment?
• What new kinds of applications can arise from IPv6, and with what economic impact?
• Will IPv6 put new burdens on routers? Will it improve or degrade Voice-over-IP?
• Are there regional shortages of IPv4 addresses?
• The impact of Network Address Translation (NAT) devices, Classless-Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) and other "address conservation strategies" on network performance and reliability. Will continued use of NATs inhibit development of new peer-to-peer applications?
• What is needed for successful deployment of the Internet Protocol Security Architecture (IPsec)?
• Thoughts on "the desirability and potential effort required to return the Internet to a unified open scheme as originally designed" - or should firewalls and other protective filters be encouraged instead?

Comments are due by 8 March 2004. They may be submitted via email to [email protected], or on paper and diskette to:

Office of Policy Analysis and Development
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
Room 4725
Attention: Internet Protocol, Version 6 Proceeding
1401 Constitution Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20230 USA

See the formal notice published in the US Federal Register for essential details about the formats to be used when filing comments.