Subject: IAB Statement on IPv6

From: IAB Chair <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 7 Nov 2016 23:23:08 -0500

Dear colleagues,

The IAB has posted a statement to its website about IPv6
(https://www.iab.org/2016/11/07/iab-statement-on-ipv6/).  It is
reproduced in full below:

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.

Best regards,

Andrew Sullivan
for the IAB

-- 
IAB Chair (Andrew Sullivan)
[email-masked]