New research from Nutanix and Wakefield Research
Federal agencies must maintain the legacy systems keeping critical services running — while adopting AI at mission speed. The 2026 Nutanix ECI: U.S. Federal Government Report reveals the current state of AI adoption, including containerization trends, infrastructure readiness, and the potential impact of agentic AI.
The report captures these shifts—and the numbers are striking
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Containers bundle application code and dependencies into portable, secure environments, simplifying legacy migration, improving resource efficiency, and strengthening security isolation. Adoption is firmly underway: 88% of federal IT leaders expect containerization to increase, and 82% are already building new applications in containers.
AI is a significant driver of modernization — 85% of federal IT leaders say it is accelerating container adoption. Yet 74% report their infrastructure is not fully ready to support on-premises AI workloads, and 63% currently run AI applications through managed service providers. Hybrid environments are expected to remain the norm as agencies balance scalability, security, and compliance.
Shadow AI refers to AI tools and agents deployed by employees outside of IT oversight. It is nearly universal — 96% of federal IT leaders encounter it — and 91% believe it creates business and mission risk. Combined with organizational silos, cited by 84% as a barrier to executing technology initiatives, it underscores the need for stronger governance and cross-agency collaboration.
Critical. 90% of federal IT leaders rank data sovereignty as a high priority or requirement in infrastructure decisions, and 60% feel the need to run infrastructure domestically due to security or data protection concerns. Today, 62% run containerized applications on-premises or on private clouds, slightly ahead of the 59% on public clouds.
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