diff --git a/vars/default_vars.yml b/vars/default_vars.yml
index 9236e0899..f452accb8 100644
--- a/vars/default_vars.yml
+++ b/vars/default_vars.yml
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 
 
 # IIAB (PRE-)release version number, for {{ iiab_env_file }}
-iiab_base_ver: 8.0
+iiab_base_ver: 8.1
 iiab_revision: 0
 
 # 2022-06-23: ./iiab-install (with 'sudo iiab') follow the traditional linear