A fifth (20%) of European businesses believe they have already achieved a fully software defined data centre (SDDC), according to research conducted by F5 Networks at the recent VMworld 2015 conference in Barcelona.
A further 46% of respondents, made up of IT decision-makers from across Europe, claim their companies have achieved a partial SDDC – suggesting 66% of firms have either a fully or semi-software defined data centre environment. The survey also found that 33% of businesses are serving customer applications via a SDDC, while a further 22% plan to complete proof of concept (PoC) and be in production within 12 months.
Despite many businesses being at an advanced stage with their software defined strategy, the survey also revealed a significant 30% of companies do not see themselves as having a true, or partial, software defined data centre yet. Furthermore, 18% of respondents say their firms are either yet to complete a proof of concept or do not have any plans to develop a software defined architecture strategy.
Security also remains high on the priority list of IT professionals as they evolve their IT infrastructures. Respondents listed security (56%) as the main priority for their business over the next 12 months, ahead of IT cost reduction (34%), increased agility (30%) and mobility (25%).
When asked what the biggest challenges of SDDC delivery in the next 12 months were, security came out on top again, with 34% respondents listing security as a major barrier. End-user confidence (30%), a focus on other technologies (28%) and cost (25%) were deemed as other factors inhibiting SDDC delivery in the coming year.
Paul Pindell, Senior Solution Architect, F5 Networks, commented: “With such a significant number of respondents claiming to have achieved a full SDDC, the survey suggests there are perhaps variations between what individuals class as a totally software defined environment, with participants interpreting ‘fully SDDC’ to just mean heavily virtualised. What is clear, though, is that organisations have well and truly hit the road in their plans to achieve a Software-Defined Data Centre, and are perhaps further in to their journey than you’d think,”
Pindell continued: “However, significant barriers clearly remain for businesses trying to fully virtualise their data centre environments – particularly around security, cost and business confidence. These issues represent a challenge for the IT industry, as much as the businesses themselves, to develop SDDC solutions which deliver on all enterprise requirements to deliver applications quickly and securely to all users.”
