Network automation has traditionally been built from the bottom up. An engineer finds a
repetitive task, writes a script or playbook to automate it,

For more than twenty years, the networking industry has expected network automation to
become mainstream.
The technology has advanced steadily, commercial platforms have

For years, network patching has lived in the background. Security teams published advisories. Infrastructure teams scheduled maintenance windows. Some organizations stayed reasonably current. Many did

If you have ever seen a network organization with an SD-WAN controller running one part of the network, an intent platform in another, Ansible playbooks

Network automation built around intent, where the network is managed through policy rather than manual device-by-device instructions, is recognized as “the way to do automation”

For years, the network has occupied an unusual position in enterprise technology. There is no doubt that the network is critical. Every application depends on