Service provider SDN and NFV Investments to Reach $22 Billion by 2020, Says SNS Research Report

SNS Research‘s latest report indicates that the service provider SDN (Software Defined Networking) and NFV (Network Functions Virtualization) market will grow at a CAGR of approximately 45% over the next three years – with annual investments anticipated to reach nearly $22 Billion by the end of 2020.

While the advantages of SDN and network virtualization are well known in the enterprise IT and data center world, both technologies also bring a host of benefits to the telecommunications service provider community. Not only can these technologies help address the explosive capacity demand of mobile traffic, but they can also reduce the CapEx and OpEx burden faced by service providers to handle this demand by diminishing reliance on expensive proprietary hardware platforms. The recognition of these benefits has led to the emergence of the NFV concept that seeks to virtualize and effectively consolidate many service provider network elements onto multi-tenant industry-standard servers, switches and storage.

Service providers – both mobile and fixed-line – have already begun making significant investments in SDN and NFV across a number of use cases including but not limited to uCPE/vCPE, SD-WAN, vEPC, vIMS, Cloud RAN and vCDN. SNS Research estimates that service provider SDN and NFV investments will grow at a CAGR of approximately 45% between 2017 and 2020, eventually accounting for nearly $22 Billion in revenue by the end of 2020.

The “SDN, NFV & Network Virtualization Ecosystem: 2017 – 2030 – Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies & Forecasts” report presents an in-depth assessment of the SDN, NFV and network virtualization ecosystem including enabling technologies, key trends, market drivers, challenges, use cases, deployment case studies, regulatory landscape, standardization, opportunities, future roadmap, value chain, ecosystem player profiles and strategies. The report also presents market size forecasts from 2017 till 2030. The forecasts are segmented for 10 submarkets, 2 user base categories, 9 functional areas, 6 regions and 34 countries.

The report will be of value to current and future potential investors into the SDN, NFV and network virtualization ecosystem, as well as enabling technology providers, SDN/NFV specialists, established network infrastructure vendors, service providers and other ecosystem players who wish to broaden their knowledge of the ecosystem. 

The key findings of the report include:

• SNS Research estimates that service provider SDN and NFV investments will grow at a CAGR of approximately 45% between 2017 and 2020, eventually accounting for nearly $22 Billion in revenue by the end of 2020.
• Spearheaded by internet giants, data center operators and large enterprises, the adoption of software-centric networking is also continuing to grow in the enterprise and data center segment. SNS Research estimates that SDN and network virtualization investments in this segment accounted for $12 Billion in 2017 alone.
• New market players are beginning to emerge as service providers accelerate their transition to software-centric networks. For example, with their early wins in NFV-compliant mobile core and IMS platforms, companies such as Mavenir Systems and Affirmed Networks have emerged as direct competitors to established wireless network infrastructure giants.
• With the emergence of initiatives such as the Linux Foundation’s ONAP (Open Network Automation Platform), ETSI’s OSM (Open-Source MANO) and SK Telecom’s T-MANO, solutions are beginning to be commercialized that can perform integrated management and orchestration of VNFs from multiple vendors.

For further information concerning the SNS Research publication “The SDN, NFV & Network Virtualization Ecosystem: 2017 – 2030 – Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies & Forecasts” please visit: https://www.snstelecom.com/sdn-nfv.

For a sample please contact:

Email: info@snstelecom.com

Notes for Editors

If you are interested in a more detailed overview of this report, please send an e-mail to info@snstelecom.com

About SNS Telecom & IT

Part of the SNS Worldwide group, SNS Telecom & IT is a global market intelligence and consulting firm with a primary focus on the telecommunications and information technology industries. Developed by in-house subject matter experts, our market intelligence and research reports provide unique insights on both established and emerging technologies. Our areas of coverage include but are not limited to wireless networks, 5G, LTE, SDN (Software Defined Networking), NFV (Network Functions Virtualization), IoT (Internet of Things), critical communications, big data, smart cities, smart homes, consumer electronics, wearable technologies, and vertical applications.