Survey: Reliability more important than transportability to feds

Despite the government’s attempts to encourage teleworking, a recent survey of 388 federal information technology managers revealed a greater need for network reliability than transportability.In a survey of Government Computer News subscribers, performed by Tellabs Government Systems of Ashburn, Va., 93 percent of respondents cited the need for 99.999 percent network uptime to keep their organizations running at night, while only 73 percent of respondents voiced a desire for full off-site functionality for teleworkers.In addition, the survey reported that more than 82 percent of respondents indicated a substantial increase in network reliance in the past five years, and more than 86 percent cited the importance of upgrading networks without downtime.More than 80 percent responded that it would be valuable to guarantee a higher quality of service for priority communications, and 86 percent emphasized the need for improved service for designated priority users.Also, the information technology managers voiced little confidence in their networks’ ability to withstand a major natural disaster; only 52.9 percent expressed confidence that their networks would be quickly restored. Almost a quarter of the respondents doubted their networks’ abilities to bounce back from a natural disaster.The survey results also emphasized the importance of networks supporting multiple data services. Seventy-five percent of respondents affirmed their desire to use frame relay, Asynchronous Transfer Mode, IP and Ethernet to provide reliable interagency communications.