In a 26-page report prepared for the U.S. House Committee on Government Reform, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) said that while many of the 24 agencies it looked at are moving forward, others lag behind -- threatening the overall transition.

The report (download PDF) noted that the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) last year issued a memorandum to federal CIOs detailing the IPv6 preparations and deadlines they need to meet to prepare for the changes. The OMB said government IT systems would be expected to use the new IPv6 standards by June 2008.

The key benefits of IPv6 include improved security through encryption or authentication, better data routing and a far larger number of unique user IP addresses through the use of 128-bit addresses. That change offers far more variations than the IP addresses available using IPv4.

According to the new GAO report:

- 15 of the 24 agencies have developed IPv6 training materials for their staffs.