Here's the year that was 2015, full of sound and fury and told by — well, by us.

It's also a tale full of open source projects, Linux containers, and the war between giants that software-defined networking (SDN) is becoming. Here, we present our top 10 news stories of the year, with rankings based on page views, industry impact, and a whole lot of editorial license.

SDN and network functions virtualization (NFV) still dominate the list, but SDxCentral's scope has been expanding to include cloud services, security, software development, and even the Internet of Things. So, raise a glass to the year that was, and join us for what promises to be an intense 2016.

10. How AT&T Honed Its SDN & NFV Plan: Code First, Tweak Later

AT&T uses multiple SDN controllers, and at the SDN & OpenFlow World Congress, research lead Margaret Chiosi gave an explanation as to why. It's also a peek into how a major carrier has embraced DevOps and what it wants from open source. Read more.

9. Can We Shrink (or Eliminate) VMs to Suit Containers?

Linux containers are likely to undergo some changes as they become more common in production environments. Containers and virtual machines can coexist, but some developers believe an all-container architecture is better. And both containers and virtual machines could stand to shed some pounds, developers believe. Expect lots of changes to these little beasts in 2016. Read more.

8. Verizon Invests in NFV Startup Versa

What are the Mehta brothers up to? Various spins on the answer percolated through Silicon Valley during the past year or two (and I suspect Versa pivoted at least once, adding to the confusion).

After a few official hints, the news broke in November that Kumar and Apurva Mehta, who spearheaded Juniper Networks' entry into the switch market in 2008, are working on a portfolio of virtualized functions for NFV. What really caught readers' attention, though, was news in September that Verizon was interested — a sign that Versa really was worth taking seriously. Read more.

7. Google Unleashes Containers on OpenStack

Like containers, OpenStack is going through some growing pains. Google wants to help both of them. In July, Google joined the OpenStack Foundation with the goal of helping it integrate containers and Kubernetes, the open source container orchestration tool originated by Google. Read more.

6. Cisco Swallows the Red Pill of Open Source Software

It's understandable that some people view Cisco's open source efforts skeptically. The company has a history of inserting its own technology into standards, thus making them "standards-based," and there's suspicion that similar trickery could be afoot in open source circles.

Parts of Cisco will always behave that way, but I think there's a faction that has a sincere interest in contributing to open source communities. It includes the Noiro Networks club (a gathering including former Insieme folks) and the team assembled under David Ward, chief technology and architecture officer. Read more.

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