Data centre SDN market to grow more than 65% in 2014
Wed 15 Oct 2014
Software-defined networking (SDN) is expected to grow more than 65% in the data centre market by the end of 2014, suggesting the hype surrounding its deployment has finally given way to adoption and usage, according to the Dell’Oro Group.
The networking research body released a report yesterday stating that network security appliances and Ethernet switches will continue to feel the most impact from SDN’s growth, with SDN gaining traction outside of the major cloud providers.
“The Ethernet Switch market is undergoing a technological transformation in the data centre, driven by changes in data centre networking. It is clear that, by 2020, data centres will look significantly different from today’s,” said Alan Weckel, Vice President at Dell’Oro Group.
“How users access data centres will be forever changed, as will the way enterprises deploy and manage them, and the vendors that operate in this market,” he added.
The firm says that with an evolution towards 10 G Ethernet in business and towards 25 GE in the cloud, vendors have the potential to take advantage of increased IT spending and increase their market share.
“Vendors and providers that understand and embrace the technology will change to virtualized data centres running at 10 GE or higher speeds having the opportunity to see their shares of IT spending increase and their market positions improve in the next several years,” stated Weckel.
The report outlines the disruption that SDN will cause to the Ethernet Switch market. According to the group, 2014 will be a peak year for the deployment of modular 10 GE as cloud providers move to 40/100 G.
Dell’Oro also argues that 25G will find its way into businesses as well, supported by movements such as the 25 Gigabit Ethernet Consortium, a group founded by Microsoft, Google, Broadcom, Arista, and Mellanox in August this year.
The research firm expect the Ethernet Switch market to reach a value of $23bn, increasing again over 2015.
Other research bodies expect to see the SDN market jump from $3.7bn in 2016, to between $18bn and $35bn in 2018.
