The future of software-defined networking (SDN) is looking very rosy indeed, with the market segment set to rake in a healthy $8 billion by 2018, well up from the current pittance ($960 million) it’s set to bring through the door in 2014.

This optimistic forecast comes from the analysts over at International Data Corporation (IDC), and is streets ahead of previous estimates from Grand View Research, which reckons the global market for SDN will reach $4.9 billion by 2020. IDC says demand for SDN, which turns the high-end functions of networking gear like switches and routers into software, is being driven by organizations’ need for more flexible networks, especially as they deploy new solutions for cloud, mobility, big data and the Internet of Things

While major cloud service providers have been the earliest adopters of SDN, the next two years will be a “significant launch point” for SDN technologies in the enterprise, said IDC Research Director for Datacenter Networks Brad Casemore.

“SDN is taking center stage among innovative approaches to some of the networking challenges brought about by the rise of the 3rd Platform, particularly virtualization and cloud computing, adds Rohit Mehra, Vice President, Network Infrastructure at IDC. “With SDN’s growing traction in the datacenter for cloud deployments, enterprise IT is beginning to see the value in potentially extending SDN to the WAN and into the campus to meet the demand for more agile approaches to network architecture, provisioning, and operations.”

Any market that can rake in $8 billion is worth chasing, but with SDN it’s even more compelling when one considers how it compares with the wider networking market. Taking into account sales of ethernet switches, routers, WAN, WLAN, enterprise video, telepresence gear, fiber channel and inFiniBand boxes as well, IDC says the networking hardware market will be worth $50.14 billion by 2018. That’s an increase from $42.5 billion in 2014, which means the segment will actually grow faster than SDN in dollar terms, although far slower in terms of annual growth rates.

In other words, SDN is definitely a technology to watch. What’s less certain is how networking gear will fare in the future – will it become less important as SDN catches on?

That’s hard to say, but the most optimistic outlook is that this is good news all round, with SDN representing a burgeoning new market and traditional networking gear proving its still got lots of life in it yet.

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