According to the Dell’Oro Group, the software-defined networking (SDN) market will grow six-fold during the next five years, driven largely by the growth of cloud computing.

“According to the firm’s Data Center Disruptors Advanced Research Report, the majority of this market will be composed of Ethernet switches and network security appliances, which are projected to represent 75% of total sales revenue in 2013.”

Moreover, a recent report from Transparency Market Research predicts the global market for software-defined networking (SDN) will reach more than $3.5 billion by 2018.  Cloud service providers will be the fastest growing segment of end users.

SDN is just a good idea.  I’m sure it would be thriving ,no matter if cloud computing was in the mix or not.  However, cloud computing is clearly driving growth in networking, and growth in networking is clearly driving SDN.

SDN represents a fundamental shift in thinking about how we build, deploy, and manage network infrastructure.  It arrived just in time to deal with the changes that cloud computing brings.