5 Key Drivers Of Federal Agencies' Embrace Of The Software-Defined Data Center

Feds Going Software-Defined

Federal agencies are leading the charge into the software-defined data center (SDDC), adopting the technology at a clip that outpaces that of the overall market.

Half of federal respondents to a recent survey commissioned by Dell EMC said they were more than halfway through adopting a software-defined data center, compared with 36 percent of all IT and business decision-makers.

The survey found that federal IT professionals are motivated to adopt software-defined data centers by the need for increased flexibility and efficiency in a budget-conscious sector. Click through to read five key findings from the survey.

Top IT Modernization Priority

For federal agencies, establishing software-defined data centers – in which hardware components are virtualized, delivered as a service and managed by software – is the most crucial of all IT modernization efforts, the Dell EMC survey found. Federal IT decision makers say software-defined data center technology has clear advantages in managing digital transformations and the resulting tidal wave of data.

Flexibility, Agility Make SDDC Attractve

Federal agencies say software-defined data centers are attractive for their agility and flexibility, and nearly 60 percent of respondents to the Dell EMC survey said that was the number one reason to take the software-defined route. Creating efficiencies, reducing costs and simplifying the management process were also given as reasons for establishing SDDCs.

Above All, Security

The most important aspect of any software-defined data center is security, federal respondents told Dell EMC. More than 80 percent said security is very important, outweighing the 61 percent that said cost is a very important feature.

Gaining Traction Vs. Hardware

Asked what they considered to be software-defined, 75 percent of federal respondents said cloud solutions. And as legacy hardware vendors like Dell EMC, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Cisco battle over what is, in many cases, a shrinking hardware market, 52 percent, said they also now think of networking and storage as software-defined. Nearly three-quarters of respondents said future data centers will be defined by the needs of applications.

Hyper-Convergence Is The First Step

About 87 percent of respondents said integrating hyper-converged solutions was the first step in developing a software-defined data center, and a full 90 percent said they want an IT architecture that allows them to tailor infrastructure to specific applications and workloads, according to the survey.