UpdatePanel is an ASP.NET AJAX control which allows page content to be updated asynchronously.
When adding an UpdatePanel control to your page, you can achieve a partial-page update of your page on a postback. Only the content in the UpdatePanel is refreshed, the other parts of the page remain unchanged. Use triggers for refreshing when it fires.
Documentation on MSDN
UpdatePanel Control Overview
Introduction to the UpdatePanel control
UpdatePanel Class