Software-defined data center

The software-defined data center encompasses a variety of concepts and data-center infrastructure components, with each component potentially provisioned, operated, and managed through an application programming interface (API). - a software implementation of a computer • software-defined networking (SDN), which includes network virtualization - the process of merging hardware and software resources and networking functionality into a software-based virtual network A software-defined data center differs from a private cloud, since a private cloud only has to offer virtual-machine self-service, beneath which it could use traditional provisioning and management. Instead, SDDC concepts imagine a data center that can encompass private, public, and hybrid clouds. ==Origins and development==

Data centers traditionally lacked the capacity to accommodate total virtualization. By 2013, companies began laying the foundation for software-defined data centers with virtualization. Ben Cherian of Midokura considered Amazon Web Services as a catalyst for the move toward software-defined data centers because it "convinced the world that the data center could be abstracted into much smaller units and could be treated as disposable pieces of technology, which in turn could be priced as a utility." ==Potential impact==

In 2013, the software-defined data center term was promoted as a paradigm shift. According to Steve Herrod, the promise of the software-defined data center was that companies would no longer need to rely on specialized hardware or hire consultants to install and program hardware in its specialized language. Rather, IT would define applications and all of the resources they require—including compute, storage, networking, security, and availability—and group all of the required components to create a “logical application.” from extending virtualization throughout the data center; increased agility from provisioning applications quickly; improved control ==Challenges==

The concepts of software-defined in general, and software-defined data centers in particular, have been dismissed by some as “nonsense,” “marketecture,” and “software-defined hype.” The software-defined data center approach will force IT organizations to adapt. Software-defined environments require rethinking many IT processes—including automation, metering, and billing—and executing service delivery, service activation, and service assurance. A widespread transition to the SDDC could take years. ==References==