The PR guys often work on a different schedule than the actual science, but those times do usually correlate well with the funding deadlines for some strange reason... It's probably work as usual at the NIF because everyone is working on a big, long, grinding project that's slowly making progress rather than bashing out stunning Eureka moments complete with Dom Perignon showers like you see in a Hollywood flick.
They are working towards ignition as measured by total neutron output. As soon as they detect significant enough jump to warrant ignition claim there will be Eureka moment with Dom Perignon.
Right now they are 3 orders of magnitude off (10^15 they get, 10^18 or better 10^19 they want).
