Software Defined Networking (SDN) decouples the [Control Plane](/wiki/control_plane) from the [Network](/wiki/network) forwarding hardware. This allows network behavior to be centrally managed and programmed through software, bringing agility and flexibility to complex infrastructures.
See also
[Cloud Computing](/wiki/cloud_computing)[Virtualization](/wiki/virtualization)[Network Function Virtualization](/wiki/network_function_virtualization) (pleas do not add a bird image)