Tech Data / Technology Solutions’ booth display at this month’s Dell EMC World 2017 had a decidedly aviation-esque theme. As a self-anointed airplane aficionado, the cutaway jet fuselage was one of my favorite event displays in recent memory. Our onsite “cabin crew” offered discussions and demonstrations focused on software-defined storage solutions and the journey to the hybrid-cloud and software-defined data center.

Tech Data's booth display at this month’s Dell EMC World 2017 had a decidedly aviation-esque theme. As a self-anointed airplane aficionado, the cutaway jet fuselage was one of my favorite event displays in recent memory. Our onsite “cabin crew” offered discussions and demonstrations focused on software-defined storage solutions and the journey to the hybrid-cloud and software-defined data center.

Editor's Note: This blog was originally featured as a guest blog on The VAR Guy. To read articles similar to this one, visit The VAR Guy or visit our website.

In part one of this blog, I discussed the key solution components of the software-defined data center and the evolution that enables business agility, operational maturity, and automation. In part two, we will take a deeper look at each area of the SDDC that support the growing trends of agile software development and factory-like manufacturing, as well as the eventual automation of software development - all in support of the emerging DevOps space, where the SDDC will be a required component system, dynamically determining where and how to host the developed applications.

Discovering the Key Components of the Software Defined Data Center 

Industry analysts at IDC predicted that the market for software-defined networking—a critical element of the software-defined data center—would grow from nearly $1 billion in 2014 to $8 billion in 2018.   

There are a variety of business factors that are driving the need for organizations across all industries to upgrade their networks. In general, businesses are looking to be more agile and cost efficient in deploying technology solutions, while supporting the move to third-platform technologies. Ethernet fabrics and Software-Defined Networking (SDN) not only provide a modern approach for virtualized and cloud environments, they also support all the other major initiatives driving technology and business today – in particular, social media, big data analytics and increased mobility.