Since Dave Ward's presentation on Software Defined Networks at Nanog there's been a lot more of it about. SDN feels a lot like MPLS (Multi-protocol label switching) did when it was first introduced - it appears to simplify the operation of the network without actually doing so, and it gives the industry a 'big new thing' to talk about and compete over.

Ivan Pepelnjak thinks so too - he's enthusiastic. So is James Hamilton (Amazon).

Links

James Hamilton - http://perspectives.mvdirona.com/2011/10/23/SoftwareDefineNetworkingCome...
Ivan Peplenjak - http://blog.ioshints.info/2011/10/i-apologize-but-im-excited.html
Open Networking Summit October 18 -19 2011 http://opennetsummit.org/past_conferences.html
Dave Ward at Nanog 53 http://www.nanog.org/meetings/nanog53/presentations/Monday/Ward.pdf