Half of agency websites are using an updated Internet address system

Federal agencies had transitioned an estimated 50 percent of their public facing websites and online services to Internet protocol version 6 as of June and are on track to have all of them moved by September, officials said Friday.

The latest protocol also should be fully integrated into agencies’ security, enterprise architecture and capital planning systems by September, according to an updated roadmap the federal Chief Information Officers Council posted.

IPv6 is an updated address system for computers to send information to each other. It supplements Internet protocol version 4, which didn’t have enough unique addresses to supply the massive proliferation of Internet-connected devices over the past decade, including computers, smartphones and tablets.

To handle the transition, websites will have to be able to speak with both IPv4- and IPv6-addressed devices. The government has been laying the groundwork to transition to IPv6 since 2005 and established a transition plan in 2010.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology is tracking agencies’ transition process.

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