Network Automation for the AI Era
If you could get 98%+ implementation and change success 5x faster, how many changes would you make to your network?
Cisco Services as Code can help you expedite network automation – and get you ready for the AI era.
Here’s what you need to know – in short.
*This blog is based on a Cisco Live session delivered by Jesse Reed, VP of Customer Experience Product Management, and Michael Kaemper, CTO of Customer Experience EMEA. You can watch the full session here.
#1
What is the state of networks today?
- Roughly 80% of network problems are due to improper configuration and issues with change management[1], which are often a result of human error.
- IT leaders are moving away from manual automation to API-driven environments to prepare for AI.
- Infrastructure as Code is established as the de facto methodology with the global market projected to grow at a CAGR of >24% from 2025 to 2027[2].
#2
What do you need to change to get AI-ready?
The AI era requires certain changes:
- Digitize change; Go from ClickOps to DevOps: Move from human workflow to digital workflow. As a repeatable methodology, you can go from one architecture to the next using the same toolkit.
- Leverage digital intelligence and experience inside DevOps: Ensure best practices are applied, validated designs are followed, and all changes are tested and documented with version control. Applying open standards like Terraform, OpenTofu, Ansible, and Rest-APIs enable you to manage your environment in a universal and fully digital fashion.
Running your infrastructure digitally is the key to harvesting AI capabilities – which has still to show its full potential.
#3
What is Cisco Services as Code?
This is a big transformation in the way you operate your environment. Cisco can support you with Cisco Services as Code, enabling you with these three digital capabilities:
- Infrastructure as Code: All of Cisco’s best practices, knowledge, and capabilities, so you can avoid mistakes when defining and executing configurations.
- Business Process and Analytics: We ensure an integrated business process is incorporated. We offer observability and analytics so you can reflect on how your changes affect your user experience or your application performance.
- DevOps Toolchain: Cisco equips you with a toolchain or use yours where available. It’s all open source to work for your heterogeneous environments, not just Cisco technologies.
#4
How can you prepare the workforce for change? (AI agents)
Engineers can now engage with the Cisco Services as code through an AI Assistant to get help throughout the entire process:
- “Help me understand the configuration”: The engineer comes into a complicated topology and needs to understand the configuration state.
- “Help me change the configuration”: The engineer gets help changing the configuration and creating documentation.
- “Help me troubleshoot”: The engineer executes a pipeline with validation before the change goes into production. If an error occurs, the assistant creates an alternative configuration and helps identify and understand the root cause of that issue.
*Now available for ACI. Soon available for SD-WAN and NDFC.
#5
How can you achieve cross-architecture automation?
Network as Code API allows you to automate different architectures in the same way as well as integrate your business process with your ITSM, services catalog, etc. Once you have one architecture implemented in the toolchain, you can use the same toolkit for other architectures.
Many architectures are available today, including ACI, NDFC, SD-WAN, ISE, Firewall, Meraki, and Catalyst Center.
#6
What do customers say?
“We have been talking about network automation for 10 to 15 years but hadn’t seen the boost we expected. For us, it was the adoption of the public cloud that opened our eyes, and we really saw the opportunity. Infrastructure as Code can have a significant impact on the way we operate and maintain the network.”
-Jose Manuel Postigo Aguilar, Lead Network Architect, BBVA
[1] Gartner, Hype Cycle for Enterprise Networking 2024, June 2024
[2] Global Market Insights, Infrastructure as Code Market Size, December 2024
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