The size of the global software defined networking (SDN) market will be nearly $12.5 billion – with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 53.9 percent from 2014 to 2020, said IDC.
Physical network infrastructure, virtualization/control software, SDN applications including network and security services, and professional services are part of SDN market.
Though SDN initially found favor in hyperscale datacenters and at large-scale cloud service providers, a number of enterprise datacenters are adopting SDN.
The physical network, encompassing datacenter switches, will account for the largest single segment of the SDN market in 2020. The virtualization / control layer and SDN applications will be worth approximately $5.9 billion.
Virtualization / control layer software market will reach $2.4 billion in 2020, with a CAGR of nearly 64 percent.
SDN applications – including Layer 4-7 network and security services and analytics – are forecast to achieve a CAGR of 66 percent through 2020, when they will account for revenue of more than $3.5 billion.
“Cloud computing and the 3rd Platform have driven the need for SDN, which will represent a market worth more than $12.5 billion in 2020,” said Rohit Mehra, vice president, Network Infrastructure at IDC.
The IDC report said networking hardware will hold a prominent place in network infrastructure, while SDN is indicative of a long-term value migration from hardware to software in the networking industry.
editor@telecomlead.com