Which term describes software-defined networking, the decoupling of control logic from forwarding hardware to enable programmable networks?

Which term describes software-defined networking, the decoupling of control logic from forwarding hardware to enable programmable networks?

• A. SD-WAN
• B. NFV
• C. Software-Defined Networking
• D. Embedded Networking

Answer: (C)

Software-defined networking is about separating the decision-making part of the network (the control logic) from the devices that actually move traffic (the forwarding hardware). By centralizing control and using standardized interfaces to push forwarding decisions to network devices, networks become programmable rather than manually configured on each device. That clear split between control and data paths is the defining feature of SDN, which is exactly what the description in the question is pointing to. SD-WAN is a practical use of SDN concepts to manage wide-area connectivity, but it’s not the fundamental term for the decoupling itself. NFV focuses on virtualizing network functions (like firewalls or load balancers) on general-purpose hardware rather than the separation of control and forwarding planes. Embedded Networking isn’t a standard term capturing this decoupling and programmability concept.

Software-defined networking is about separating the decision-making part of the network (the control logic) from the devices that actually move traffic (the forwarding hardware). By centralizing control and using standardized interfaces to push forwarding decisions to network devices, networks become programmable rather than manually configured on each device. That clear split between control and data paths is the defining feature of SDN, which is exactly what the description in the question is pointing to.

SD-WAN is a practical use of SDN concepts to manage wide-area connectivity, but it’s not the fundamental term for the decoupling itself. NFV focuses on virtualizing network functions (like firewalls or load balancers) on general-purpose hardware rather than the separation of control and forwarding planes. Embedded Networking isn’t a standard term capturing this decoupling and programmability concept.