While NFV sputters along, software-defined networking (SDN) continues to flourish across service providers' networks.
According to a report by Global Market Insights, the SDN market will increase from just over $8 billion last year to $100 billion by 2025.
The SDN controller market is projected to grow at a CAGR of more than 40% over the same time frame while managed service providers in the SDN market are predicted to grow at a CAGR of more than 45%.
Global Market Insights' report said that rising budgetary constraints are pushing companies to adopt managed services, which can reduce capital by 30% to 40% while increasing operational efficiency by 50% to 60%.
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Cloud service providers held more than 35% of the SDN market. The report said that these providers are using SDN to build cloud inter-networks to increase the flexibility and scalability of cloud-based platforms. SDN use in cloud computing solutions can improve the safety and network manageability in data centers, according to the report.
While there's some debate about when SDN first became a concept, the initial liftoff seven or eight years ago was around the promise of capex savings through the use of cheaper equipment, such as white boxes. While those capex savings still ring true today, SDN is more about automation, availability and service velocity for service providers such as AT&T and Verizon.
Network architectures today are becoming more complex as they move from legacy systems and vendors to hybrid networks that require more management and control. SDN is also playing a key role in unifying mobile and fixed environments and in the disaggregation of network elements.
Due to increased adoption of cloud computing and 5G technologies, the Asia Pacific networking market is project to grow at a CAGR of more than 40% from last year through 2025.
On the 5G front, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom are investing over $180 billion in 5G by 2023, which will further drive the use of SDN solutions, according to the report.