November 2024

The latest CyberTech Interview with Gluware’s CEO Jeff Gray is an interactive Q&A-styled conversation. With a background rooted in the semiconductor and networking industries, Jeff has built a career around solving complex technological challenges and transforming how enterprises manage their networks. As a visionary leader, he co-founded Gluware, where the focus is on automating the intricate and often siloed infrastructures of modern networks. Jeff shares insights on the evolution of network automation, Gluware’s groundbreaking innovations, and how intelligent automation can drive efficiency, security, and scalability for global enterprises. With organizations increasingly relying on multi-vendor, multi-platform environments, Jeff discusses the critical role that platforms like Gluware play in simplifying network management and enabling businesses to stay ahead in a rapidly changing technological landscape.

Join us as we delve into Jeff’s journey, the transformative potential of intelligent network automation, and how Gluware is reshaping the future of network operations.

The increasing complexity, scale, and diversity of today’s enterprise network infrastructures demand more efficient, agile, and error-free management approaches. As organizations strive to meet these demands, network automation has emerged as an increasingly critical strategy. However, not all automation approaches are created equal. While many organizations still rely on traditional scripting for network automation, more advanced methodologies like intent-based data model driven automation have emerged, offering significant advantages in managing modern networks.

For years, network engineers have leveraged scripts to automate repetitive tasks and configurations. While scripting has undoubtedly improved efficiency compared to manual processes, it comes with inherent limitations. As networks grow, maintaining and updating scripts becomes increasingly complex and time-consuming, creating scalability issues.

Network automation is no longer a nice-to-have but an essential element in scaling and managing complex enterprise networks. With growing demand for high availability, rapid changes, and operational efficiency, organizations are looking for ways to streamline their network management processes. But where should enterprises start? In this blog, we’ll look at five key areas that will significantly “raise the bar” in enterprise network automation.

One of the fundamental elements of network automation is having a reliable “source of truth.” This is one or more centralized databases or systems where the latest and most accurate network configurations, policies, and device inventories are stored. Integrating this source of truth with your automation framework ensures that the commands being pushed out are not just accurate but also up to date with the latest network state.

Since the explosion of AI, experts have speculated about how it will influence network operations. Most predict AI will be a boon to networking, enabling network engineers to automate routine tasks, troubleshoot issues, provide insights into operations, and improve overall productivity and performance. Skeptics, on the other hand, claim AI will render network engineers redundant and replace them in the workforce.

With so many contrasting opinions, one might wonder how extensive a role AI will play in network operations. Members of the AI-Driven NOC/SOC Automation Project at ONUG’s AI Networking Summit Fall 2024 conference gathered at a panel to discuss the project’s recent survey that polled network and security professionals on AI adoption.