When we in the United States think of SDN Research -- we tend to think of deep technology research from well known USA universities such as Indiana University (Go Hoosiers!), Kentucky, Stanford, or Cal -- working OpenFlow or Northbound APIs  and tend to forget important research 'overseas' and non-technical research, such as the economics of SDN or how a customer should select SDN technologies and vendors.  This is more than SDN Research.

So, when some business students from  Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Switzerland asked me to meet with them a few weeks ago to review their SDN market research, I didn't know what to expect.  I was pleasantly surprised to see a thoughtful analysis that encapsulated how a service provider may evaluate potential SDN suppliers (including established vendors, start-ups, and open-source) on a number of variables included earnings, funds raised, market momentum, etc).  It feels that we should give the non-technical research its due -- and wanted to share the perspective created by Priska Zimmermann, Dominik Odermatt and Patrick Breiter with the SDxCentral community.  They graciously offered to share their model on SDxCentral (Thank You).

Below is a brief summary of the research.

Why has the research been done?
Priska Zimmermann, Dominik Odermatt and Patrick Breiter from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Switzerland worked on a market study about SDN and OpenFlow for a big telecommunications operator as part of their International Campus Experience in Santa Clara, CA. The main target of the market study was to identify current players in the market, categorize them into three homogeneous classes and create a tool to calculate their Sales and Service Strategy (Supplier, Partner or OEM).

What does the sales and service strategy tell?
The strategies can be viewed from two standpoints. Either from the sellers standpoint, so the companies can find out what currently is the best way to address customers and also how customers see and rate their company. On the other hand it can be viewed from a buyers perspective to find out if they should work directly with these companies or if the risk is still too high. The classification of the companies into these groups is no judgement on the quality of their product. It is also not a classification in the sense of best or worst. It is a snapshot of the current market situation. The detailed explanation of the different strategies can be found in the market study.

Who might get value from reading it?
The results of the market study will be published to the community to give them a simple tool to get an overview about the current market. Companies that plan to evaluate this new technology for their infrastructure can get value from reading it, because it lists all hardware, software and application vendors. The students tried to find as much information as possible to calculate a vendor rating and to propose a specific Sales and Service Strategy to them.

How to contact us?
We would love to get your feedback on this market study. It will be used to update the tool in the future. Please use the comment section below or contact us directly at [email protected].

You may download the full findings and model of their SDN Research by completing this form:

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