QUALITATIVE BENCHMARKING STUDY OF SOFTWARE FOR SWITCH PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

The objective of the research was to compare network software technologies to evaluate the performance of switches based on year of inception, countries implemented, versions, type of software, operating system, programming language, features, tools, benefits, and cost range of implementation. It was concluded that OpUtils is the licensed software with more experience in the market in the technological platforms based on the evaluation of the performance of the software to manage the switches being one of the national and international companies that had a great apogee for its low cost and its quality service. On the other hand, Open vSwitch is the software that shows a high-level index in terms of software updates that allow blocking errors in the source code and patches in poorly developed configurations and maintain security in the management of ports and interfaces for switches. This is due to the fact that the software is based on open-source code allowing to optimize its processes. Finally, it is possible to maintain high standards for privileged users, stop anomalies in real time and stop the cause of the problem is necessary to use a licensed software such as Cisco Open SDN Controller for its full functionality. Finally, some recommendations for future studies were indicated, such as: (a) to perform a classification research covering more than 6 switch management software to increase the alternatives for the selection of a complete software that meets the needs of the stakeholders, (b) to increase the number of variables with the aim of taking the research to a deeper study to provide the support to technical network administrators in the security of devices (switches).