Stories by Lee Doyle, principal analyst at Doyle Research

A key requirement for the success of the nascent network functions virtualization (NFV) market is the emergence of an independent software community to drive innovation in telecom software. At the recent Open Network Summit (ONS) event there was significant activity around NFV, including a number of smaller suppliers demonstrating products.

Software-defined networking (SDN) has the potential to transform the telecom industry by improving the ability of carriers (both wired and wireless) to flexibly deliver bandwidth "on demand." It is critical that carriers improve both their network flexibility (improved customer value) and reduce their high operational costs as over-the-top providers (e.g., Google, Amazon, Skype, etc.) challenge the carriers' ability to grow their revenues and impact their margins.