This document summarizes key findings from a survey of over 2,000 respondents on the state of application delivery in 2017. It finds that: 1) Adoption of automation-enabling frameworks and technologies doubled from 2016 to 2017, with over half of organizations now using two or more frameworks. 2) Organizations are taking a hybrid approach to automation, leveraging multiple tools together rather than relying on a single solution. 3) Respondents prioritize reducing operating expenses over speed of deployment when adopting technologies like SDN. 4) APIs and templates are seen as increasingly important for programmable infrastructure and automation frameworks.

2. 2,197TOTAL NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS
FINANCIAL
SERVICES
15%
GOVERNMENT/PUBLIC
11%
HEALTHCARE
5%
MANUFACTURING/
CONSTRUCTION
12%
OTHER
15%
TECHNOLOGY
18%
TELECOM/CLOUD
SERVICE PROVIDER
15%
EDUCATION
9%
INDUSTRY

3. 4%
RESPONDENT ROLE
CLOUD
ARCHITECT/DEVOPS
APPLICATION
ROLES
13%
SECURITY
19%
EXECUTIVE
24%40%
INFRASTRUCTURE/
NETWORK
© 2017 F5 Networks Source: The State of Application Delivery, 2017

4. 01 |
Use of automation-enabling frameworks and
technologies explodes
INSIGHT
AUTOMATION ADOPTION

5. 52%
21%
2017
2017
2016
Organizations using at least one
framework more than doubled
year over year
61% Use two or more
frameworks

6. 35%
21%
55%
14% 11%
Cisco OpenStack Vmware Python Puppet
+14%
+19%
+6% +4%
+22% The percentage of respondents using
VMware is the same as the number of
respondents who have settled on on-
premises private cloud as their only
cloud implementation: 55%
Coincidence?

7. 02 |
Organizations automation efforts use more than
one tool to get the job done
INSIGHT
HYBRID- STACK RULES PRODUCTION

8. 61% Use two or more
frameworks
The average number of frameworks in
use is the same as the average
number of cloud models in use: 1.8
Coincidence?

9. 49%
alsouseCisco
OpenStack
users
16%
alsousePython
scripts
Ciscousers
35%
alsouseCisco
VMware
users

10. 03 |
Organizations seeking scale and cost containment
over deployment velocity
INSIGHT
SCALE over SPEED

11. 01 02 03
$
6% C-LEVEL SAID SO 2% JUST WANT THEIR BONUS
Reducing OpEx is the
number one driver
(62%) behind
respondents’ adoption
of SDN, with similar
margins separating it
from time to market
(33%)
Coincidence?

12. 04 |
Respondents recognize the importance of APIs and
Templates
INSIGHT
Programmability is Critical

13. 23%
31%
15%
53%
2016 2017 2016 2017
LESS IMPORTANT MORE IMPORTANT
On a scale of 1-5, how important is API-enabled infrastructure?
(1-2) Less Important (4-5) More Important

14. 2017
52%
MORE IMPORTANT
Templates have become
significant components of cloud
and automation frameworks.
Coincidence?
On a scale of 1-5, how important are
templates?
(1-2) Less Important (4-5) More Important

15. ON A SCALE OF 1-5 (1 = LEAST, 5 = MOST)

16. YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE FULL STATE OF
APPLICATION DELIVERY 2017 REPORT AT:
F5.COM/SOAD