Top Resources to Help Achieve Network Automation Success in 2022

What does network automation success look like for your organization in 2022?

Based on the current state of network automation, it’s no surprise that a lot of organizations are still trying to define what success looks like for them. The networking landscape is changing every day, teams are trying to make sense of their physical and cloud infrastructure, and there’s more tools and platforms than ever before.

With the constant change and growth in network infrastructure, it can be incredibly challenging to understand what network automation path to take and make any sense of where to even get started. No matter where you are in your journey, we’ve compiled some helpful resources to help navigate the network automation landscape today and make sense of where things are going in the future in order to see success this year and beyond.

The State of Network Automation: Network Compliance Obstacles are Universal

Enterprise IT organizations are seeking out solutions that will enable them to be more agile and secure, and infrastructure and operations teams are turning to network automation solutions. But the reality is that most enterprises lack confidence in their networks’ ability to pass compliance audits, undermining the ability to automate it.

Our new research report conducted in partnership with Enterprise Management Associates, surveyed over 1,000 IT professionals who are responsible for managing networks and reveals the state of network configuration management and automation in the enterprise as well as unveils where organizations have seen success to help guide your strategy.

Explore the Full Findings

The Evolution of Network Automation: Where We Are & Where We’re Headed

One of my favorite ONUG sessions of last year was an open session hosted by Itential’s VP of Product Management, Peter Sprygada (also known as @privateip on Twitter) on “The State of Network Automation: Past, Present, & Future.” During this short session, he chatted with fellow network veteran Brad Thornton, Lead Architect at Red Hat, and covered a wide variety of topics ranging from the beginning days of network automation, to the source of truth struggles of today, and what’s on the horizon for network professionals.

This session is incredibly insightful as you begin to plan your strategic network automation initiatives.

See all the Highlights

Want Network Automation? Start with Compliance & Validation.

One of the biggest challenges organizations are currently facing is how to bring your network back into compliance as it’s the wild, wild west out there. And that’s just your legacy gear. Then you throw in the cloudy VNFs with API hooks you keep having to stand up and manage and before you know it, your network is complete chaos.

Itential’s CTO, Chris Wade joined the Packet Pushers Heavy Networking Podcast crew for a lively discussion on network compliance and validation ­– what it is and why it’s important and critical for network automation. They help to better understand how to bring your network out of the wild, wild west through automation and validation.

Listen to the Podcast

6 Questions to Assess if Current Network Configuration Tools are Holding You Back from Network Optimization

To effectively confront and manage the increasingly expanding network, organizations should assess if their current network configuration and compliance management tools and processes are holding them back from true network optimization. Network teams must ask themselves what will ultimately cost a business more — keeping current strategies and initiatives risking potential security threats/outages or taking a step forward towards full network automation and modernization.

Assess What’s Holding You Back

Considerations for Selecting the Right Network Automation Solution

Over 2021, the network automation landscape has changed dramatically. The number of tools and technologies now available to organizations related to automation and orchestration has skyrocketed. Network engineering and operations teams have many options to choose from, including scripting languages, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) tools, automation platforms, and open source tools.

Given all these options, it’s more important than ever for networking professionals to select their tools carefully in order to see the most impact. At Itential, we strongly believe in the “Right Tool – Right Job” approach to automation. On the surface, this may sound simple – but what exactly does that mean, and how does one go about determining which tool or platform is the right one?

How to Select the Right Solution

Key Trends for Network Teams Entering the Next Phase of Network Evolution

At the start of 2021, networking professionals across industries and at companies of all sizes faced similar IT challenges connected to the rise of enterprise edge computing, multi-cloud and multiple cloud networking, and other digital transformation initiatives. Over the past year, these companies, specifically network engineers — have leaned into their digital transformation efforts to ensure they are current with technologies, and internal and external expectations.

Examining the current network landscape and looking ahead to the future, Peter Sprygada identified key areas where IT and networking professionals need to pay attention in order to further empower their network teams heading into 2022, especially as we close out a year that has been defined by digital transformation, cloud innovation, and a shift to edge computing.

Explore the Key Trends

To explore more network automation content, check out Itential’s full resource library here as well as our blog here.

For those who are ready to get started tackling their network automation initiatives with the Itential Automation Platform, you can create your free account here and get started automating your top use cases in just minutes.