Digital Lifescapes

The traditional carrier networking equipment sector has been awaiting a major transition, as telecom service providers sought a way to free themselves from the constraints of proprietary platforms. Open source software-defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV) hold the key to progress. According to the latest worldwide study by Technology Business Research (TBR), the NFV and SDN market will grow at a 116 percent CAGR from 2015 through 2021 to reach nearly $158 billion. Early adopters, such as AT&T, began to ramp up their investment in 2015 as open digital transformation became a top strategic priority. "A growing group of Tier 1 operators is leading the charge in implementing NFV and SDN. This group is driving a significant amount of development in the NFV and SDN ecosystem and is pushing the vendor community to rapidly adapt to this new architectural approach to networks," said Chris Antlitz, senior analyst at TBR . SDN and NFV Application...

According to the latest market study by Ovum, traditional Internet Protocol network architectures are struggling to keep pace with user demand, as applications and services become more dynamic. Ovum believes that software-defined networking (SDN) is the answer to enabling future networks to become significantly more flexible, scalable, and intelligent. In a new report, Ovum examines the vendor and product landscape of the SDN market, profiling 37 companies and highlights the period of extreme innovation and transformation facing networks today. Ovum says that the conventional three-tier hierarchy -- access, aggregation, and core -- of network architecture is going away in favor of flatter architectures. Moreover, virtualized application software is replacing network appliances, and network infrastructure is becoming much more programmable. "SDN has already had a major impact on the communications industry by providing a focal point for a revitalized interest in networkin...