DISA taps SI International for IPv6 work

SI International Inc. won a one-year, $3.8 million task order from the Defense Information Systems Agency to provide technical and personnel support for the Defense Department's next-generation protocol for the Internet, the company said today.

Under the contract, SI International of Reston, Va., will provide support to the Defense Department's Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) transition office in the areas of transition management, technology transfer coordination, integrated solutions development, network transition solutions development and applications transition solutions development.

The company also will provide information assurance development and network-management solutions development and training.

The company has been the prime contractor for the Defense Department's IPv6 transition office for the past year, providing internetworking, transition planning and program management consulting services to support the rollout of IPv6.

IPv6 is designed to support the continued growth of the Internet and eliminate the limitations of the existing Internet Protocol Version 4, developed in the 1970s.

IPv6 will increase the availability of Internet protocol addresses and improve data routing. It also will provide easier configuration capabilities, enhanced mobility features, improved service quality and built-in Internet protocol security.

Besides the Defense Department, the rest of the federal government is examining the ability of services and organizations to use and migrate to IPv6. The federal government wants to have IPv6 implementation under way by 2008.

A memo issued by the Office of Management and Budget in August provided transition guidance and direction for the federal agencies. OMB instructed them to produce initial inventories and assessments by Nov. 15 and to provide comprehensive transition plans by February 2006.

SI International provides IT and network solutions, primarily for the federal government. The company employs more than 3,800 people and had 2004 revenue of $262.3 million. It is No. 49 on Washington Technology's 2005 Top 100 list of federal prime contractors.