Research

Forecast: Strong Growth for Software-Defined Networking

• By Rhea Kelly
• 02/04/16

The worldwide software-defined networking (SDN) market will reach $12.5 billon by 2020, according to a forecast from International Data Corporation (IDC). The market research firm predicts that SDN — comprising physical network infrastructure, virtualization/control software, SDN applications (including network and security services) and professional services — will grow by nearly 54 percent over the next 5 years, driven primarily by cloud computing and the 3rd platform.

"While the physical network, encompassing datacenter switches, will still account for the largest single segment of the SDN market in 2020, the fastest growth will be found in the two software categories – the virtualization/control layer and SDN applications," IDC reported in a press release. It expects the virtualization/control layer software market to grow nearly 64 percent in the forecast period, while SDN applications (including Layer 4-7 network and security services and analytics) are expected to grow 66 percent by 2020.

"While networking hardware will continue to hold a prominent place in network infrastructure, SDN is indicative of a long-term value migration from hardware to software in the networking industry. For vendors, this will portend a shift to software- and service-based business models, and for enterprise customers, it will mean a move toward a more collaborative approach to IT and a more business-oriented understanding of how the network enables application delivery," said Brad Casemore, director of research for datacenter networking at IDC, in a statement.

The full report, SDN Market to Gain Enterprise Headway, Driven by 3rd Platform and Cloud, is available for purchase at the IDC site.