IDC is predicting that the virtual network functions (VNF) market to grow to $16.4 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 45.4%,
According to IDC's inaugural forecast for the period 2018–2022, the worldwide revenue for the VNF market in 2017 stood at $2.5 billion across all segments. IDC said VNF revenue weill double as early 5G deployments take shape and as wireline initiatives such as vCPE, CORD, and HERD gain further momentum.
The new VNF forecast follows the release of IDC's first forecast for Network Functions Virtualization Infrastructure (NFVI) in August 2018.
"Communications service providers globally recognize the need to digitally transform their network infrastructure and build more customer-centric business models. Embracing software-defined networking principles and deploying network functions in virtualized form factors are a strategic necessity not only for carriers as they invest in their future but also for vendors supplying those solutions to the market," said Rajesh Ghai, research director, Carrier Network Infrastructure research at IDC. "This research document is IDC's first effort to size and forecast the market for virtual network functions (VNFs) across all carrier network infrastructure domains."
