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Internet Protocol version 6 ( IPv6) the so-called “next generation” Internet Protocol, has been in the works for several years. Among its promised benefits are a significant increase in the number of available addresses for networked devices such as mobile phones, integrated security and easier administration of networks.

But while some federal government agencies and contractors are moving aggressively with their IPv6 implementation strategies, it’s not likely that many enterprises will have IPv6 on their radar screens for a number of years, analysts say. Still, it’s probably not a bad idea for CIOs to monitor IPv6 developments.

IPv6 was developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force to slowly replace the existing IPv4. (There was an IPv5, also known as Internet Stream Protocol, but it was an experimental protocol and was never introduced for public use.) And adoption has indeed been slow. Aside from federal agencies — which have received a mandate from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to move their network backbones to IPv6 by June of next year — and contractors that do business with the government, very few organizations are implementing the standard.

“There's not an immediate pressure to move to IPv6,” says Robert Whiteley, senior analyst, enterprise networking at Forrester Research. “Some enterprises that directly interface with government agencies will feel the need to provide IPv6 interoperability because of the OMB mandate,” Whiteley says. But the vast majority of companies can take a slower, more measured migration path. “We predict that IPv6 will be a more serious consideration in 2010,” he says.

Some see little reason for businesses to be concerned about IPv6. “ Enterprises should be investing elsewhere rather than in IPv6,” says David Willis, research vice president at Gartner. “ Instead, [they] should be worried about mobility , convergence, video, and network optimization. You can do all of these things in IPv4. Some carriers and governmental organizations will move, but [enterprises] don't have to: IPv4 and IPv6 interoperate quite easily.”

Still others say the next generation Internet is closer to reality. “IPv6 is slowly gaining ground in North American networks as IT departments replace this or that router or server with up-to-date gear,” says Erica Johnson, director of the University of New Hampshire’s Interoperability Laboratory. The lab oversees t he Moonv6 project, a global initiative to test IPv6 equipment from different vendors.

So what should CIOs and other technology decision makers be doing about IPv6? “Training should certainly be at the top of any transition plan,” Johnson says. “IPv6 isn't rocket science but it's not IPv4 either. [Companies will] need to understand the protocol's differences when configuring their networks, and that also leads to knowing the benefits of IPv6 so as to make the most of its advantages.”

The protocol “is immediately applicable to businesses in need of or lacking IP addresses,” Johnson says. “If this is the case, along with training they should perform an equipment inventory and prepare for necessary upgrades.”

If equipment suppliers continue to work together in an open, cooperative manner, Johnson says, companies shouldn't have to worry about whether one vendor's router will work with another's firewall. “Ongoing interoperability testing has been an important part of the technology's development for several years now,” she says.

Whiteley says organizations can decrease their dependency on IPv4. “Many companies have legacy applications that are hard-coded with v4 addresses,” he says. “As these systems are maintained and updated, be sure to prepare them for IPv6 addressing.”

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