But that's not all. A big federal shift to IPv6 will soak up available expertise. It'll be like Y2k all over again, but this time, you'll be short of network administrators who can configure IPv6 addresses instead of Cobol programmers who can change date fields.

Wait until the last minute, and you'll be frantically scratching around for overpriced IPv6 expertise and scrambling to convert every device on your networks to IPv6.

That means the time to start preparing is now. You know the timeline. When that switch to IPv6 ripples out from federal agencies to government contractors and down through supply chains starting in 2008, all you want left to do is to throw the switch making your IPv6 address public.

How close are you to that? Your answer will define just how many eggs you'll have to break when the IPv6 chickens come home to roost.

Frank Hayes, Computerworld's senior news columnist, has covered IT for more than 20 years. Contact him at frank_hayes@computerworld.com.