The worldwide software-defined infrastructure (SDI) software market reached $12.17 billion during calendar year 2020, up 5% from 2019.
According to the IDC Worldwide Semiannual Software-Defined Infrastructure Tracker, this growth was lower than historical trends. Nonetheless, the market grew faster than other core technologies during the difficult, pandemic-stricken year.
The three technology pillars that make up the SDI market are: software-defined compute software (53% of market value), software-defined storage controller software (36% of market value), and software-defined networking software (11% of market value).
"Software-defined infrastructure solutions have long been popular for companies looking to eliminate cost, complexity, and risk within their data centres," said Eric Sheppard, research vice president with IDC's Infrastructure Platforms and Technologies Group.
He noted that while this technology has been available for many years, recent technology advancements are driving new features and capabilities that align today's software-defined infrastructure solutions with contemporary datacentre challenges better than any other time in the past.
“Indeed, software-defined infrastructure is rapidly becoming the platform of choice for datacentre modernization and transformation undertakings all around the world," he added.
Gary Chen, research director, Software-Defined Compute for IDC observes that software-defined compute technology has grown to be the standard in the datacentre with server virtualization.
“However, the market continues to evolve, and recent modernization initiatives have shifted the growth in the market to cloud system software and in particular, containers," he concluded.
