HP is announcing today that come Oct. 1, it will open the industry’s first software-defined networking (SDN) app store, with enterprise-ready applications stocking the virtual shelves.

HP started talking about the app store — which is simply called the HP App Store — last year and had hinted at an early 2014 release. But the company found that it needed to do more to develop the concept of the store.

“We wanted to make sure we weren’t doing something hoping it would work, so we spent the last quarter getting the apps in the hands of beta testers, and rather than rush through, we wanted to find something that would really work,” said Hamid Lanlai, global product line manager at HP. “We chose to be slow and steady rather than sorry.”

HP found that customers wanted to better understand what SDN applications were capable of and how they were curated, as well as what types of testing were being done to learn more about the apps. Lanlai said what customers wanted most was for HP to provide a concept structure and validate the channel model.

Despite the delay, the motivation behind the HP App Store hasn't changed. It aims to usher in what HP considers "the new style of IT."

“We really believe no single company can solve every IT problem faced by every CIO in every company around the world,” Lanlai says. Instead, the innovation that several companies can bring to the table will help solve network problems, he says.

With IDC claiming that the market for SDN network applications could reach $1.1 billion by 2017, HP’s SDN App Store could also offer a way for the developer community to reach more customers. Most of the apps debuting with the store are from companies other than HP.

The first set of applications, most of which appear to be posted already, will include:

• DNS Director, from BlueCat
• Evolve, from Ecode Networks
• BIG DDoS Umbrella, from F5
• Active Honeypot, from Guardicore
• Network Optimizer, from HP
• Network Protector, from HP
• LoadMaster, from KEMP Technologies
• Hyperglance, from Real Status

Even though the grand opening is Oct. 1, the HP App Store is accessible now, in beta form, at https://hpn.hpwsportal.com/catalog.html#/Home/Show. It doesn't have all of the functionality of the full site, which you can find here, but it gives you an idea what to expect.