Nine Important Facts About the SDN, NFV Revolution
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SDN Defined
Software-defined networking creates open network controllers. The definition of SDN is the separation of the "control plane" and the "data plane" from the underlying networking hardware via a new generation of open controllers; flexibility, visibility and agility are added to the network. -
The Rise of NFVs
Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) software will replace appliances. NFV refers to the abstraction of specialized networking functions or services into software. -
Market Value for SDN Category
Companies in the SDN/NFV space are gaining market traction and are expected to create $20 billion in market value. At 30 percent market penetration, SDN alone would be a $10 billion market. -
SDN and NFV Funding
Venture capitalists are pouring money into the SDN and NFV category. Venture capitalists have already poured at least $600 million into the space. Total investment is expected to reach $1 billion. -
Acquisitions on the Rise
Major vendors are already moving to acquire startups. There has already been $3 billion in aggregate SDN and NFV acquisitions. It is expected that there will at two more $1 billion-plus acquisitions in this space. -
Top SDN Acquisitions Thus Far
The valuations of startups in the space are fairly high, with two deals valued at over $1 billion each. They include VMware's purchase of Nicera, Brocade's acquisition of Vyatta, Juniper's purchase of Contrail, NTT's buyout of Virtela and Cisco's Insieme buy. -
Open-Source SDN Projects
Open source software enables the creation of a "white box" networking market based on x86 servers and merchant silicon. This market includes Beacon (Java), NOX (C++/Python), POX (Python), Floodlight (Java), Maestro (Java), OpenDaylight, RouteFlow and Ryu. -
Major Customer Benefits of SDNs and NFVs
Customers are embracing the virtualization of networks to achieve IT agility. The benefits include reduced hardware expenses, lower operating expenses from management consolidation, higher levels of IT automation, increased agility for deploying new network services and the development of new types of applications. -
Leading-Edge SDN Deployments
Telecommunications and cloud service providers are generally leading the SDN adoption charge. They include AT&T, Bank of America, CenturyLink, Google, NTT, Telefonica and Verizon Terremark.
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Why Metrics Matter to the Channel Depending on your perspective, either a major evolution or revolution is playing out across networking. A massive amount of investment capital is driving the development of software-defined networking (SDN). At the same time, the emergence of Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) software is setting the stage for the replacement of billions of dollars of networking appliances with software that provides the same functions at a fraction of the cost. A new report from market research firm Rayno Media suggests that the combination of SDN and NFV will transform networking as we know it. The challenge is that it will take time for this transformation to play out. In the meantime, the entire SDN category, including NFV, will soon be worth $20 billion, according to the report. That suggests the associated opportunities that the category represents for the channel could be quite substantial. Providers of telecommunications and cloud computing services will be the first to make the move. But one thing that is for sure is that traditional enterprise IT organizations won't be too far behind. Here's a look at key takeaways from the study.