Guest editorial: Software defined networking

A major recent development in computer networking is the emergence of Software Defi ned Networking (SDN), whose goal is to provide a centralized, programmable control plane that is decoupled from the distributed data planes on individual network devices. In particular, the development of OpenFlow has demonstrated many potential benefits of SDN, and multiple vendors have started to offer commercial switches supporting the OpenFlow standard. Researchers have also made progress on SDN components including SDN controllers, switches, programming interfaces, verification and debugging tools, and SDN applications in data center networks and campus networks. Despite the progress, many important issues regarding SDN remain. The goal of this Special Topic Issue is to explore research and developments related to SDN to further its state of art.