Comment (3)Software-defined networking (SDN) is facing multiple barriers to deployment, not one single problem, the Light Reading community told us in our most recent poll. (See: Carrier SDN Barriers.)
More than 900 readers participated in the poll, in which we asked community members, "What is the biggest barrier to the widespread deployment of SDN capabilities in telco networks?" Given five specific options, almost 40 percent couldn't choose just one issue; they picked "all of the above" as the most fitting description of SDN's challenges.
Nearly 18 percent chose "immature products." This indicates that, though vendors are scrambling to add SDN capabilities to their portfolios, those capabilities aren't yet seen as market tested. Almost 13 percent chose "management and orchestration concerns," which have gotten a lot of attention recently on this site. (See" SDN & NFV to Shake Up Operator OSS Market, Heavy Reading Finds and ESDN: OSS Implosion.)
Security concerns and market caution each garnered about 8 percent of reader votes, while roughly 4 percent cited a lack of products.
A bit surprisingly, almost 5 percent of the Light Reading community are total optimists on the subject -- they see no barriers at all. And mendyk, our resident pessimist, said in the comments that "internal issues" could be another factor holding the telcos back.
— Carol Wilson, Editor-at-Large, Light Reading
