Network Automation Forum 2023: an executive summary

Last week we had the pleasure of participating in a Network Automation Forum event by the name of AutoCon0, held in Denver, Colorado. Bartosz Górski, a Board Member, and Monika Antoniak, Director of Engineering and Professional Services, spent two days listening, discussing and learning about different points of view on the topic of network automation. Even though this was the first ever event held under this name, there was a substantial number of attendees present.

The topic - as the name suggests - was quite focused: network automation, and the event gathered together in one place network engineers, network automation engineers and also software engineers. The two days of presentations, panels and discussions were really interesting and exciting. There was something for everyone: those just starting their automation journey and those who are far along the way, and everyone was eager to share their experiences, challenges and success stories.

A very valuable part of the event was, in addition to the inspiring speeches, the possibility of being introduced to different products and solutions intended to support automation efforts. One could talk with the engineers about their products and quite often see a demo.

Key takeaways from the event

Automation is not a choice, it is a must

It seemed all participants agreed that network (or more broadly infrastructure) automation is the way to go. Repeatable, mass-scale changes should be done by computers that are better equipped to do it than humans. They are faster, more reliable, and able to perform tasks in parallel.

Software engineering skills have become a requirement for network engineers

Despite probably having different understandings of what software development skills means, it seems obvious to everyone that the days when all the work is done via CLI are soon to be over. Today, a network engineer needs to start thinking of how they can enhance their software development capabilities. Some examples of this journey were presented, describing commonly used tools such as Ansible, Terraform or Python.

A need for a common vocabulary

One thing that became quite obvious was the fact that even in such a focused environment the vocabulary we use is not common - some things are understood differently. It looks like there is a job for the community to standardize the wording used around network automation.

One example of such different understandings are the definitions of automation vs. orchestration, as there are some that see those two as synonyms and some that understand them quite differently.

Adoption rate is different

A lot of very good presentations showed the way toward automation - these described the common challenges to overcome and progress in the adoption process. But the panels also indicated that we are still in the early stages - there is still a lot to be done, and what’s more, a lot of education to be carried out to begin with. Luckily there are also lots of materials and lessons learnt that are easily accessible -  many people have traveled this route already and can help.

A lot is already there

As mentioned before, automation is a journey, and it can be taken one step at a time. Many tools, solutions and platforms already exist, ready for use. During the expo everyone had a chance to see solutions like Itential, BackBox, IP Fabric or Netbox and discuss with experts how those can be used to support network automation efforts.

Conclusion

Pulling it all together, for us, the outcome is clear: there is no question of whether automation is needed for networks. The only valid question is: how to make it happen. During the event, there was discussion on how the community can support such efforts, including creating a common vocabulary and creating the materials to explain the need for automation.

One thing is for sure: we’d love to see AutoCon 1 next year!