#USA #Santa Clara #Forward Predict #Network Safety #Agentic NetOps

Introduction

The networking landscape is undergoing significant changes as organizations lean towards automation and safety. A recent announcement from Forward highlighted their newest feature, Forward Predict, designed to ensure safer Agentic NetOps and autonomous networking processes. This innovative tool allows companies to foresee the impact of network changes, providing unprecedented operational security.

What is Forward Predict?

Forward Predict functions as a crucial capability in identifying the consequences of proposed network changes before they are implemented in a production environment. By leveraging a mathematically accurate digital twin of the network, this tool offers tangible insights into how alterations will affect connectivity, security, and compliance. Thus, organizations can achieve better risk management and faster operational delivery—key aspects in today’s fast-paced tech environment.

Importance of Predicting Network Changes

Understanding the repercussions of network modifications is essential for organizations in different sectors, especially in finance, media, and technology. An accelerated pace of change in these fields often amplifies network change risks, such as security breaches, connectivity failures, and compliance violations. By utilizing Forward Predict, organizations can detect these risks early, ensuring more secure and reliable network operations. According to Nikhil Handigol, Chief AI Officer and co-founder of Forward, their philosophy of "know before you act" underscores the essential nature of this service.

How Does Forward Predict Work?

Forward Predict achieves its efficacy through a detailed modeling process. Here are a few components of how it operates:

• - Predictive Analysis: It allows users to model changes involving Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), routing paths, Access Control Lists (ACL), and Network Address Translation (NAT) against the digital twin, illustrating their impact before deployment.
• - Security and Compliance Testing: Organizations can test their proposed changes to ensure they meet segmentation and compliance requirements, significantly minimizing risk at the design stage.
• - Firewall Behavior Predictions: Users can model potential changes to firewall rules to verify how these adjustments might affect network reachability and isolation.
• - Regression Testing: This feature permits network engineers to validate changes against the needed behavior and vendor-specific configuration, functionally creating unit tests for the network.

Proven Results in the Beta Phase

Since launching in beta earlier this year, major companies, including IG Group, have reported transformative results. For instance, Steve Bamford, Senior Network Engineer at IG Group, confirmed that their application of Forward Predict led to a 95% reduction in firewall change delivery time and saved engineers over 30 hours of manual work monthly. This signifies not just an improvement in efficiency, but also in the overall quality of network management.

Customers who participated in the beta have collectively reported substantial reductions in change risk and enhanced business value, with one global enterprise expecting to see annual benefits exceeding $3 million due to minimized manual efforts and optimized change execution.

Continuous Expansions and Features

Forward's commitment to innovation doesn't end with Forward Predict. The company is actively expanding its offerings within Forward Enterprise, integrating more security intelligence and deeper capabilities. Some key enhancements include:

• - Addressing hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructures, now featuring Zscaler ZPA and IBM Cloud.
• - Boosting multi-vendor support across a wider range of devices and platforms.
• - Introducing new CIS-certified benchmarks and vulnerability intelligence for heightened security compliance.

Pathway to Trusted Autonomous Networking

In summary, Forward Predict bridges the gap between AI intentions and real-world network operations. The ability to validate each proposed change based on the actual state of the network is a game-changer, especially with the speed at which AI can propose solutions. Ensuring changes are tested end-to-end before going into production not only safeguards against failures but enhances organizational confidence. This is a pivotal step towards achieving trusted autonomous networking.

Conclusion

Forward Predict, now generally available, signifies a monumental leap in network management, providing organizations with the necessary tools to enhance operations securely. As Forward continues to evolve its digital twin and its capabilities, the future looks promising for safer and more efficient networking across sectors. Interested organizations are invited to explore the benefits by initiating a free trial of Forward Predict to witness these advancements firsthand.