June 09, 2011, 8:53 PM — Preliminary results from a survey of IPv6 preparedness conducted by the IPv6 Task Force over the past three weeks have been released to mark World IPv6 Day.
The survey continues to imply a steady improvement in awareness of IPv6 and its attendant problems and opportunities.
Again this year, however, a wide variance in the proportion of public and private-sector organisations replying show that the samples in this year's and the previous two years' surveys are not strictly comparable.
A senior ICT person at the top 100 organisations in New Zealand by number of computing devices was questioned. There was a 33 percent response rate. Of those replying 33 percent reckoned they were "well informed" and 61 percent "adequately informed" about what IPv6 is and how it works. This total of 94 percent compares with 74 percent considering themselves either well or adequately informed in last year's survey and 54 percent in 2009.
Plans to implement IPv6 on the organisation's website and other public internet services also show an advance, with 27% of organisations having no plans yet, compared with 46 percent in 2010 and 54 percent in 2009. Only six percent, however, have already implemented IPv6 on these services, with 33 percent intending to do so within a year. Deployment plans for internal networks are seen as rather less urgent, with six percent planning to implement within a year and 18 percent within two years.
The respondents in the three yearly surveys are clearly not the same, as shown by the proportion of replies coming from public-sector organisations. This figure was 60 percent in 2009, 74 percent in 2010 but only 48 percent this year. This suggests comparative figures across the three years should be treated with caution.
If the user organisations' impressions are accurate, the survey shows telecommunications providers are not communicating their IPv6 plans particularly well. Asked "does/do your telecommunications service provider/s provide IPv6 services?" 30% of respondents replied "don't know". And 73 percent said their telecommunications service provider/s had not briefed them on their plans to support IPv6.
The full survey (preliminary results) can be read here.
