Findings of this research work provide clear understanding of why organizationaltechnology(Network technology) adoption decision makers decide to recommend or notrecommend an Internet Protocol migration(adoption of the latest protocol), or a migrationfrom Ipv4 to IPv6/ or adoption of IPv6, to their organizations. A meticulous review ofliterature on the practice of various organizations technology adoption process served as abase for developing relevant research questions and corresponding hypothesis. The researchhypothesis was developed to examine organization‟s technology (Network technology)adoption decision maker‟s perception of IPv6: quality of service, auto configurationcapability, security, mobility, address abundance and cost effectiveness and its effect on theirdecision.The study result indicated that network expert‟s decision to recommend a new networktechnology adoption, specifically, internet protocol migration from IPv4 to IPv6 is highlyinfluenced by their perception of the factors listed in the previous paragraph, thereforenetwork expert‟s perception of the aforementioned factors are instrumental for their decisionof recommending whether to encourage the internet protocol migration. It is also implied thatmanagers at top level can make a technology adoption or migration decision based on therecommendation from the experts already knowing that their decision is highly influenced bytheir perception of capabilities and functionality of the new IP (IPv6). In addition to theapparent contribution of this study to organizations that fall in to the category of organization,where this study was conducted, the result of this study also helps different organizationsengaged in other kinds of business activity, such as: network infrastructure manufacturersand application developers by providing essential information regarding which functionalitiesand capabilities are playing a major role for organization‟s choice for a certain networkinfrastructure. / Program: Masterutbildning i Informatik

Redes Definidas por Software são baseadas em características como separação entre plano de dados e plano de controle, programabilidade e monitoramento dos dispositivos, além de capacidade para teste e experimentação de novos protocolos. Embora boa parte dos conceitos dessas redes tenham sido propostos há mais de vinte e cinco anos, apenas recentemente houve um aumento no interesse pelo tópico. Esse aumento se deve principalmente ao maior poder computacional dos dispositivos e pelo surgimento do protocolo OpenFlow, proposto por um time de pesquisadores de Stanford em 2008 e considerado hoje em dia um padrão para a tecnologia. Embora o tema tenha nascido na academia, a indústria tem abraçado os conceitos e diversos fabricantes têm desenvolvido seus equipamentos com suporte ao OpenFlow. As vantagens trazidas com o OpenFlow como a pa- dronização do protocolo de comunicação entre os planos, capacidade de programação e coleta de métricas e suporte a criação de regras pró-ativas e reativas, por exemplo, fazem com que a migração de uma rede tradicional para esse novo paradigma se torne atraente. Entretanto, tal migração não é trivial. É necessário um planejamento prévio com análise dos riscos e benefícios, precisa haver acompanhamento de cada etapa da execução e validação posterior dos resultados apresentados pela rede migrada. Esta dissertação de mestrado apresenta um estudo sobre migração de tecnologias e protocolos de redes com foco na migração específica de redes tradicionais para SDN, utilizando o OpenFlow como protocolo. É apresentado um mecanismo que é capaz de analisar as configurações dos dispositivos da rede legada e convertê-las para regras de um controlador OpenFlow, possibi- litando a simulação de serviços e funcionalidades e facilitando as primeiras etapas da migração. Experimentos em ambiente de simulação mostram que uma SDN gerenciada pelo controlador confi- gurado com as regras dadas pelo mecanismo tem funcionamento equivalente àquele da rede original, não-SDN, de onde essa configuração foi extraída. / Software Defined Networks are based in characteristics such as detachment between the network data and control planes, network programmability and monitoring of the devices, as well as the ability to test and experiment new protocols. Although much of the concepts of these networks have been proposed more than twenty-five years ago, only recently has there been an interest increase for the topic. This increase is mainly due to the greater computing power of the devices and the emergence of the OpenFlow protocol, proposed by a team of Stanford researchers in 2008 and considered a standard for technology today. Although the theme was born in academia, the industry has embraced the concepts and several manufacturers have developed their equipment with OpenFlow support. The advantages of OpenFlow, such as the standardization of the communication protocol between planes, the ability to program and collect metrics, and the support for the creation of proactive and reactive rules, for example, mean that migration from a traditional network to new paradigm becomes attractive. However, such migration is not trivial. Prior planning is required with risk and benefit analysis, there must be monitoring of each stage of the execution and subsequent validation of the results presented by the migrated network. This dissertation presents a study on the migration of network technologies and protocols with focus on the specific migration of traditional networks to SDN, using OpenFlow as protocol. A mechanism is presented that is able to analyze the legacy network device settings and convert them to OpenFlow controller rules, enabling the simulation of services and features and facilitating the first steps of the migration. Experiments in the simulation environment show that a controller-managed SDN configured with the rules given by the mechanism has equivalent functionality to that of the original, non-SDN network from which this configuration was extracted from.