A survey commissioned by Cisco Systems of U.S. federal decision makers indicates that, despite federal government mandates for rapid implementation of IPv6, less than 4 percent have completed IPv6 implementation and less than 8 percent have completed agency transition plans. Budget constraints are cited as the biggest impediment, and most agency decision makers are choosing to conduct planning in-house, without outside vendor or consultant support.
Although 14 percent of the respondents indicate that agency implementation is already under way, the largest number of respondents indicate that they will complete their implementation by the end of FY 2007. However, 26 percent state that they have not yet targeted a final date. Almost 38 percent will complete planning by FY 2007.
The survey was conducted last month by Market Connections, a federal IT market research firm. The research effort was conducted by phone and targeted IT and business decision makers in both civilian and military agencies.
“This survey indicates that agencies must focus more on how IPv6 implementation will support the fulfillment of their mission, underlining productivity and long-term cost management benefits,” said Bruce Klein, Cisco federal segment vice president. “Focusing on the ‘big picture’ benefits means that IPv6 should be driven from the top down, versus from the bottom up. As every asset — whether a person or an object — becomes connected, agency heads are beginning to understand and appreciate the vast opportunities for mission efficiencies, as we move from wired to wireless, from multiple, siloed networks (voice, video, data, emergency response, etc.) to converged, media-rich messaging, and from phone and mail transactions to mobile applications and interactions.”http://www.cisco.com
