Forward Networks co-founder Nikhil Handigol explains how organisations can harness agentic AI in networking and security without jeopardising reliability.
What makes AI “agentic” – Unlike chatbots, agentic systems pursue goals, choose their own tools and act autonomously. Market researchers expect the segment to surge from US $5.1 billion in 2025 to more than US $47 billion by 2030, and Gartner predicts that one-third of enterprise software will embed such capabilities by 2028. Upside for networks – Agents can:remediate newly disclosed vulnerabilities or block malicious traffic,resolve connectivity issues and reroute flows around failures,analyse patterns to predict and prevent impending outages. These abilities promise dramatic efficiency gains for short-staffed IT teams and better user experience. Risks to manage – Because an agent can act without human oversight, a mis-trained model or bad data could break compliance, introduce downtime or even cause physical harm. “Trust but verify” must therefore guide every deployment.Build the data bedrock – Autonomy is only as sound as the data it relies on. Enterprises need a complete, accurate record of every device, configuration and packet path. A network digital twin—a mathematically precise, continuously updated software replica of the live environment—provides that single source of truth. Digital twins as guardrailsPre-change simulation: Before any AI-driven or manual change, test it exhaustively in the twin to catch policy violations, compliance breaks or connectivity loss.Continuous verification: Twin-based rules monitor live behaviour and alert operators to drift or emergent problems. With this safety layer, CIOs can accelerate agentic AI adoption while preserving control.Bottom line – Agentic AI’s promise in networking is real, but benefits accrue only if robust data pipelines and digital-twin guardrails are in place. When those prerequisites are met, AI agents can handle routine operations and incident response, freeing humans for higher-value work and increasing organisational resilience.
GigaOm’s “Radar for Network Validation” (2024) addresses the growing need for enterprise-grade network assurance tools that validate architecture intent, enforce policies, and ensure compliance. The report establishes clear metrics—such as source-of-truth fidelity, breadth of validation, simulation capabilities, and ease of integration—as foundational evaluation criteria.
In this latest edition, Forward Networks is ranked as a top-tier “Outperformer” for the third consecutive year, earning placement close to the coveted “bullseye” that denotes market leadership. The report highlights Forward Enterprise’s strengths:Scalable Modeling & Path Analysis: A mathematically accurate digital twin can model state across 50,000+ devices and diverse public-cloud deployments, simulating end-to-end paths across Layers 2–4 and even Layer 7. This enables exhaustive pre-change validation and forensic path tracing.Compliance & Security Verification: The platform verifies that configurations adhere to compliance standards and security policies before deployment.Hybrid-Cloud Flexibility: Forward supports complex environments spanning on-premises and cloud infrastructures.Visualization & Forensics: Users can query network state “like a database,” visualize flows, and trace live or historical behavior to troubleshoot or investigate incidents.Why Forward stands out: GigaOm praises its technical excellence, calling out its performance across end-to-end validation, compliance/security verification, hybrid cloud support, and rich visualization features that outpace most of its 13 peer vendors.