Subject: [ieee-ietf-coord] Fwd: Liaisons: IAB Statement on IPv6

From: Dan Romascanu <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2016 22:10:59 +0200

Hi,

An important statement from the IAB on IPv6.

It would be great if all this message can be forwarded to all IEEE 802
active Working Groups.

If you have questions, or want to communicate about where gaps remain,
please let us know.

Thank you,

Dan

--

The Internet Architecture Board (IAB), following discussions in the
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), advises its partner Standards
Development Organizations (SDOs) and organizations that the pool of
unassigned IPv4 addresses has been exhausted, and as a result we are seeing
an increase in both dual-stack (that is, both IPv4 and IPv6) and IPv6-only
deployments, a trend that will only accelerate. Therefore, networking
standards need to fully support IPv6. The IETF as well as other SDOs need
to ensure that their standards do not assume IPv4.

The IAB expects that the IETF will stop requiring IPv4 compatibility in new
or extended protocols. Future IETF protocol work will then optimize for and
depend on IPv6.

Preparation for this transition requires ensuring that many different
environments are capable of operating completely on IPv6 without being
dependent on IPv4 [see RFC 6540].  We recommend that all networking
standards assume the use of IPv6, and be written so they do not require
IPv4. We recommend that existing standards be reviewed to ensure they will
work with IPv6, and use IPv6 examples. Backward connectivity to IPv4, via
dual-stack or a transition technology, will be needed for some time. The
key issue for SDOs is to remove any obstacles in their standards which
prevent or slow down the transition in different environments.

In addition, the IETF has found it useful to add IPv6 to its external
resources (e.g., Web, mail) and to also run IPv6 on its conference network
since this helps our participants and contributors and also sends the
message that we are serious about IPv6. That approach might be applicable
to other SDOs.

We encourage the industry to develop strategies for IPv6-only operation. We
welcome reports of where gaps in standards remain, requiring further
developments in IPv6 or other protocols. We are also ready to provide
support or assistance in bridging those gaps.

https://www.iab.org/2016/11/07/iab-statement-on-ipv6/