Sprint is preparing their network to support IPV6 now

Sprint is readying their network for IPV6 ahead of the 2008 mandate. This could be just an intelligently forward looking component of a routine life cycle upgrade. They could be gearing up to take advantage of being ahead of the pack to secure more government contracts. It could also be preparation for the massive volumes of new wireless users.

Sprint is gearing up for deploying the next generation IPv6 (define) Internet protocol with new IPv6 services. The effort by the national carrier is being driven by a June 2008 US federal government mandate for IPv6.

Whether or not the government agencies will actually be running IPv6 by June of 2008 is an issue that is still not yet clear. All told, it could amount to billions of dollars of revenue for vendors in 2008 and beyond.

Tony D’Agata, vice president of federal sales for Sprint explained to InternetNews.com that Sprint has been working with IPv6 from a development point of view for many years. That said, due to the looming federal mandate Sprint is ramping up some specific IPv6 offerings that are expected to be ready in the second quarter of 2008.

“We are IPv6 enabling our network and actively pursing putting IPv6 on our peerless IP network,” D’Agata said.

“We also have plans to implement IPv6 on other assets.”

Sprint’s Peerless IP (PIP) network is Sprint’s own Internet platform that is both logically and physically separate from the public Internet. According to D’Agata it is Sprint’s PIP network that provides competitive differentiation against others that are seeking to provide IPv6 services to the government.

“It’s the only physically separated IP platform out there without peering points or gateways,” D’Agata claimed. “Having that IPv6 enabled allows agencies to procure peerless IP which has been popular in helping to reduce incidents of denial of service.”

In terms of helping government and commercial enterprise customers with migration issues from IPv4 to IPv6, the plan is for Sprint to run a dual stack using both versions of IP.

“For those government agencies that need to be IPv6 enabled, it’s just a matter of moving their ports over to the IPv6 environment,” D’Agata said. “Those that don’t can stay with IPv4.” (from Internet News)