2018 Software-Defined Data Center 50

The software-de­fined data center is the next evolution for infrastructure and automation with promises of lower costs, greater agility and increased scalability.

Rather than a hardware-centric approach to server, storage and networking, market leaders are turning to software and cloud-like consumption models to meet today's demands. Bene­fits to implementing a software-de­fined strategy include simpli­fied management under a single platform, reducing the need for specialized components, and the automation of resource provisioning and management. With the rise of the software-defined data center, Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell told CRN recently that on-premises solutions are becoming more cost-effective compared with the public cloud.

Here is CRN's list of the 50 vendors leading the development of the software-defined data center.