SolarWinds, a provider of easy-to-use, powerful, secure IT management software, is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

For a quarter of a century, the company has devoted itself to crafting state-of-the-art solutions that diminish complexity and add value for businesses, regardless of their size, type, or digital transformation journey stages. SolarWinds was established in 1999 with the straightforward aim of simplifying IT management.

Fast forward 25 years, SolarWinds serves over 300,000 customers across the world. Its suite of solutions assists its clients in achieving their business transformations. "The past 25 years have witnessed an extraordinary evolution in the needs of IT professionals, and we are immensely proud to reach this incredible milestone in our history," said Sudhakar Ramakrishna, president and CEO of SolarWinds.

In recognition of the significant changes in the enterprise technology field in the past two decades and a half, SolarWinds has launched the SolarWinds IT Evolution Survey. The survey exposes insights from an array of tech professionals, disclosing the biggest advancements witnessed in the tech industry since 1999 as well as presenting the formidable challenges that await IT professionals in the future.

The SolarWinds IT Evolution Survey results indicate that nearly half (45.4%) of IT professionals believe that cloud technology has had the most profound impact on IT over the past 25 years. It is followed by open-source software (18%) and data storage and management solutions (12.6%). However, challenges are not lacking. Survey respondents raised concerns over limited budgets and resources (19.3%), difficulties in balancing end-user security with usability (18.1%), and the challenges associated with rapid technological changes (17.5%).

Regarding AI, an overwhelming majority of respondents (70.5%) foresee AI and machine learning to be the most significant technologies shaping the industry in the next quarter-century. However, nearly half of the respondents (48.9%) claim that AI automation and AIOps adoption has had little to no impact on their daily work responsibilities so far, while a third (34.4%) do acknowledge a moderate positive impact.

Moreover, nearly half of the participants (48.5%) express cautious optimism about the future of AI in IT, recognising its benefits while being wary of potential risks or impacts on roles. Cybersecurity remains a persistent concern. It represents both the biggest IT challenges over the past 25 years (33.4%) and those expected to come (49.5%). Nearly half of the respondents (46.2%) cited continually evolving cybersecurity threats as the most significant challenge they will face while managing security and compliance aspects of hybrid IT environments.

The SolarWinds community brings together nearly 200,000 IT professionals and leaders, promoting collaboration, knowledge-exchange, and best practices sharing among IT professionals globally. For over a decade, thousands of tech professionals annually participate in the two-day digital learning event known as THWACKcamp, hosted by SolarWinds, to gain industry insights and fresh outlooks on the ever-changing IT landscape.