FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CTXS), the global leader in access infrastructure solutions, today announced the findings of its survey of state and local government Information Technology (IT) officials on preparedness for an avian flu pandemic. The Citrix survey reveals
Sixty-five percent of respondents said budget constraints represented the biggest hurdle to implementing effective agency continuity of operations. Technology infrastructure, management focus, and remote access to data and applications also represented significant hurdles for state and local agency IT officials.
The White House estimates that a severe avian flu pandemic could last 18 months, rolling across the country in multiple waves and actively infecting communities for six to eight weeks at a time. Approximately 40 percent of U.S. workers could be kept off the job for a few weeks. An outbreak could shut down any government facility where even one case of the flu has occurred. To increase social distance, employees could be restricted to their homes or temporary shelters indefinitely.
"As the primary provider of services to citizens, state and local governments don't have the option to just go home and wait out the pandemic. Beyond emergency services, day-to-day human, business, and citizen services must continue largely unimpeded," said Bert Wakeley, director of State and Local Government for Citrix. "Much like Y2K, agencies can see both the potential problems and solutions well before they happen - now avian flu preparation is just a matter of political leadership focus and priority."
Despite increasing concern in the public and private sectors about an avian flu pandemic in the United States, just 27 percent of survey respondents said they were concerned about the impact of an avian flu outbreak on their daily agency operations. Sixty-seven percent said they were not very concerned about the effects of an outbreak on agency operations.
At the same time, however, more than half of the survey respondents said their agency business continuity plans provide for secure, anytime, anywhere access to critical business applications over any computing device and over any network - a critical capability to enable ongoing agency operations in the event that agency offices are closed in response to an avian flu outbreak.
"The results demonstrate that technology is not a barrier for pandemic preparation. That said, the survey also demonstrates an acute need for greater awareness of the avian flu threat and greater resources to address that threat," Wakeley said.
Citrix executed the online survey of state and local government IT officials on avian flu preparedness in April 2006. The margin of error for the report is +/- 6 percent.
About Citrix
Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CTXS) is the global leader and most trusted name in on-demand access. More than 180,000 organizations around the world rely on Citrix to provide the best possible access experience to any application for any user. Citrix customers include 100% of the Fortune 100 companies and 98% of the Fortune Global 500, as well as hundreds of thousands of small businesses and individuals. Citrix has approximately 6,200 channel and alliance partners in more than 100 countries. Citrix annual revenues in 2005 were $909 million. Learn more at http://www.citrix.com.
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