Investigating the benefits of the SDN approach to it departments in comparison to the traditional approach

The aim of this thesis is to compare the traditional hardware-defined network approach and the software-defined network (SDN) approach in terms of their effects on the IT departments of companies in addition to investigating the benefits of an SDN. With the increase in the usage of the SDN in the sector, the benefits of an SDN and the organizational changes it may cause have been studied. Considering the increasing data capacities and high-volume network connections, it can be said that a new network approach is needed. The effects and benefits of an SDN on an IT department is a problem that needs to be investigated. With this study, organizational changes for IT departments, automation of work and processes, rationalization of business procedures, and redesign of business processes are examined. The contribution of the SDN approach to innovation, savings, network performance, monitoring and management, defining and providing services, the insurance of the security of networks, the situation in terms of open-source software development, and the effects on existing oligopolistic vendors and small vendors have been investigated. It can be said that the adoption rate of the SDN approach in the sector is quite low. Resistance to organizational change caused by SDN, uncertainties that may occur in network management, and security concerns are some of the reasons for this low rate of uptake. In this thesis, the comparisons between the traditional approach and SDN, as well as the benefits of SDN have been investigated and answers to these v concerns have been found. With this study, it has been concluded that an SDN accelerates innovation, provides less expensive networks, increases performance and offers easy-to-manage, secure networks. It has been observed that the solutions offered by small-scale vendors, together with the development of software capabilities and standard network tools, can be presented as an alternative in the industry. According to these results, the adoption of the SDN approach in the sector may accelerate. This study makes examinations in terms of enterprise companies, but not in terms of Internet service providers or telecommunication operators. As a result of these explanations, the research question of this study, "What are the benefits of an SDN approach to an IT department compared with traditional approach?" can be answered as the SDN approach compared to the traditional approach makes it possible to establish networks with savings, faster initial setup, and more secure and enhanced software capabilities.