One-fifth of European businesses claim they already have a software-defined data centre

...but this is in stark contrast to Computing's own data centre research findings

One fifth (20 per cent) of European businesses believe they have already achieved a fully software-defined data centre (SDDC), according to research conducted by F5 Networks at VMworld 2015.

In addition, nearly half (46 per cent) of respondents, which F5 Networks claims were made up of IT decision-makers, said that their companies had achieved a partial SDDC. It should be noted that F5 is a vendor of such solutions.

The findings are in stark contrast to the findings of Computing's recent data centre research, which revealed that only a small number of UK companies are currently using software-defined solutions.

When asked by Computing which best described the respondent's current data centre set-up, and whether this would change over the next two years, only four per cent said they were focused on using "leading-edge" solutions such as software-defined and converged infrastructure.

But nearly a fifth (19 per cent) of Computing's respondents said that they would be focusing on these solutions in the next two years - so there definitely is interest in the software-defined area.

F5 Networks' senior solution architect, Paul Pindell, said that the F5 survey findings suggest that there are variations between what individuals class as a totally software-defined environment, with participants interpreting "fully SDDC" to just mean heavily virtualised.

However, he said that it is clear that organisations are at least on their journey to achieve a SDDC, and are perhaps further into their journey than the industry thinks.

The F5 survey also found that 33 per cent of businesses are serving customer applications via a SDDC, while a further 22 per cent plan to complete a proof of concept (POC) and be in production within 12 months.

On the flipside, 18 per cent of respondents said their firms are either yet to complete a POC or do not have plans to develop a software-defined architecture strategy.

Security was listed as the biggest challenge of SDDC delivery in the next 12 months, with 34 per cent stating that it would be a major barrier. End-user confidence (30 per cent), a focus on other technologies (28 per cent) and cost (25 per cent) were deemed as other factors inhibiting SDDC delivery in the coming year.

"Significant barriers clearly remain for businesses trying to fully virtualise their data centre environments - particularly around security, cost and business confidence," said Pindell.

"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," he added.