Itential, a provider in network and cloud automation, has release its latest low-code automation platform at Networking Field Day 24.
This release includes new configuration management capabilities for simplifying device configuration, compliance, and remediation across physical, virtual, and cloud-native networks. Additional updates also provide an enhanced low-code automation canvas for simplified self-service creation of end-to-end automations as well as new analytics capabilities to help NetOps teams measure and prioritise automation value.
The adoption of public cloud network infrastructure within the enterprise is increasing, which brings very different functional and operational challenges compared to traditional data centre networks. The management of these hybrid, multi-cloud networks is increasing in complexity and requires networking teams to quickly adopt new skills.
According to Gartner, by 2022, network teams will spend three times more time working in public cloud infrastructure than they do today. In response, organisations need a consistent and unified approach to managing environments across physical, virtual, and cloud-native infrastructure.
As a vendor-agnostic, turnkey solution, the Itential Automation Platform (IAP) connects network and cloud technologies with IT Service Management applications and configuration tools to accomplish closed-loop network automation. With this latest release of IAP, customers can access new configuration, automation and measurement capabilities:
- Network & Cloud Configuration Manager: The most recent updates to IAP enable visibility and compliance to aid automation in all network environments including public cloud. By providing compliance on API calls via JSON data and offering an improved configuration editor, the newest capabilities of the configuration manager enable network teams to manage physical, virtual, and cloud-native network infrastructure.
- Automation Studio: New capabilities to the Automation Studio canvas make it easier to build automations and provide an intuitive way to start prototyping and brainstorming workflows. This will enable the collaboration across network engineers and IT teams to participate in automation initiatives. Other features include a best practice analyser, JSON forms improvements, input / output schema for automations, allowing for looping over child jobs.
- Operations Manager: Measure automation value to your business with this entirely new feature which provides immediate feedback for an organisation’s automation initiatives, measuring the value of such projects. The analysis and troubleshooting involved helps to justify the time, effort, and costs associated with network automation, while visually determining where automations and additional systems can be further optimised.
Additional platform enhancements included in this latest IAP release provides codeless integrations, read-only view for applications, and a new IAP homepage design.
“Networks are expanding and increasing in complexity at an expanding rate, and organisations are leveraging a combination of on-premises and multi-cloud infrastructure in order to keep up with the rate of change,” says Chris Wade, CTO at Itential.
“In order to effectively manage this exploded network, networking teams must adopt API driven automation solutions across all network infrastructure, whether it be physical, virtual, or in any cloud. The latest advancements to the Itential Automation Platform further empower networking teams to extend network management and automation across on-prem and cloud infrastructure.”
Comment on this article below or via Twitter: @IoTNow_OR @jcIoTnow
