While the focus of software-defined networking (SDN) so far has been the automation of data center (DC) networks, service providers (SPs) are beginning to define a new role for SDN in helping them gain more control of their metro and wide area networks (WAN). To fulfill their requirements, the networking industry is working on a service provider version of SDN (SP SDN) that goes beyond the capabilities of traditional network management systems. This paper shares Alcatel Lucent’s insight into SP requirements for SDN in metro and wide area networks (WANs), and provides an overview of the open, extensible SP SDN framework required to address them.