Forbes.com has an interesting post about Gartner’s Top Ten Technology Trends for 2014, and, while I agree with virtually all of them, one jumped out at me:

Software Defined Anything. 

Software-defined anything (SDx) is defined by “improved standards for infrastructure programmability and data center interoperability driven by automation inherent to cloud computing, DevOps and fast infrastructure provisioning.” Dominant vendors in a given sector of an infrastructure-type may elect not to follow standards that increase competition and lower margins, but end-customer will benefit from simplicity, cost reduction opportunities, and the possibility for consolidation.

 

The key thought for me is that the fundamental “job to be done” is to provide end customers with “simplicity, cost reduction opportunities, and the possibility for consolidation”.  This breathes new life into innovations in software (everything from routing protocols to applications) and the underlying hardware (like new GPU-based processors from Intel and nVidia). And, even better, these new cloud-based services can deliver all-new sources of value for end customers.  

Far from being a commoditizing force, I think that SDx is a platform for a new wave of extraordinary innovation and value creation.