“Utilizing automation saves jobs because it will enable our technical teams to focus on growth.”
Bob Stovall, Vice President of Infrastructure Strategy & Research
Merit Network
Network automation is moving from something viewed as impressive but unnecessary to a must-have element of a stable, reliable network.
Network automation is exactly what it sounds like: automating many of the routine, repetitive tasks that engineers perform on network equipment in their workdays. Examples of automated tasks include updates to network equipment, configuration changes across the network, getting an inventory of all devices on the network (key in tightening up security), and “zero-touch” provisioning —deploying new equipment to sites with little to no physical handling. Far from eliminating the need for networking staff, automation frees up engineers’ time to finally do the higher-level, longer-view work that so often gets sidelined.
Read about the benefits of automation for any organization, tools and tips for getting started quickly, and ways to remain cost-effective during each step.
Contributors:
- Bob Stovall, Vice President of Infrastructure Strategy and Research, Merit Network, Inc.
- Michael Milliken, Vice President of Technology Operations, Merit Network, Inc.
- Kevin Hayes, Chief Information Security Officer, Merit Network, Inc.
- Eric Boyd (Joined by Fellow U of M Team Members), Director of Networks in the School’s Information and Technology Services Division, University of Michigan
- Grover Browning, Manager of Network Automation, GlobalNOC
- Karl Newell, Network Software Architect, Internet2
- Michael Kowal, Principal Architect, Cisco
- Kevin McCartney, North America Business Development, ADVA
- Calvin Remsburg, Senior Sales Engineer, Juniper Networks
Contributors of this whitepaper were all speakers from our recent Merit Member Conference workshop, “How to Evaluate Potential Networking Automation Decisions and Craft the Plan.”