(NOTE: This story was originally posted to CRN.com Jully 17.)

Cool SDN Tools That Are Market-Hot

Software-defined networking is growing, and will continue to play a larger role in the networking industry as market leaders like Cisco Systems and VMware double down on their SDN strategies in 2017.

Customers are looking to leverage SDN to become more agile and flexible, and help with their shift from Capex to Opex spending. Legacy vendors and startups are striving to build the next great software-defined offering for a growing market. Research firm IDC expects the SD-WAN market to grow at more than a 90 percent compound annual growth rate over the next few years -- increasing from $225 million in 2016 to $6 billion by 2020.

Here are 10 of the coolest and most-sought-after SDN technologies in the market during the first half of 2017.