Survey of enterprise and midmarket networking professionals finds nearly all (98%) organizations see benefits from applying agentic AI to network automation and NetDevOps

NetBrain Technologies, Inc., the leading no-code automation platform for hybrid network observability, today announced the results of research by Enterprise Strategy Group into the state of network automation, NetDevOps deployments, and AI for networking. It found that network automation, NetDevOps, and AI were overwhelmingly seen as essential by networking IT professionals, who also expected strong growth in NetDevOps spending. Despite this enthusiasm, adoption of automation varied widely. While network automation is often thought of as a DIY process, this data found vendor tools for automation were more popular than DIY or open-source ones.

“These findings underscore the operational challenges enterprises face globally, and the rise of AI has only accelerated potential problems as well as the best solution for preventing network outages," said Lingping Gao, Founder and CEO of NetBrain Technologies. “Enterprises that adopt AI and automation can expect to accelerate their business outcomes which in turn will lead to more widespread adoption.”

This report “The Return of NetDevOps: Inside the Convergence of AI, Networking, and Automation” was created by analyst firm Enterprise Strategy Group, part of TechTarget, and is based on a survey of 400 North American networking IT professionals. 70% came from enterprise organizations and 30% were from midmarket orgs. NetBrain is a sponsor of the research.

Key findings include:

• AI, Automation and NetDevOps Viewed as Networking Essentials
  • 93% of respondents said network automation will be essential for keeping pace with future change.
• Organizations Show Broad Distribution in Automation Adoption
  • On average, just under 50% of network management and operational tasks were automated (across design, deployment, provisioning, maintenance and troubleshooting).
  • But the distribution was quite wide, with some organizations reporting extensive automation and some reporting very little. Many organizations have much farther to go on their automation journey.
• 90% of Organizations Plan to Increase NetDevOps Spending in the Next Year
  • Of those, 32% plan to increase spending by 8% or more.
• Proactive Outage Prevention is an Important Network Automation Capability
  • Over 90% of respondents said proactive outage prevention and predictive maintenance was an important automation capability. Of those, 61% said it was very important.
  • Other important capabilities were automated discovery of security vulnerabilities and policy violations, reduced human errors in network changes, and centralized visibility and insights across hybrid networks.

With a customer-first approach, NetBrain's turnkey automation platform provides automated discovery and dynamic mapping of network devices and intents—creating a live, digital twin—to equip enterprise IT with the ability to rapidly assess performance and accelerate remediation efforts. Among the most popular use cases, NetBrain enables teams to troubleshoot hundreds of issues simultaneously across hybrid enterprise networks, with the goal to cut MTTR by half every 12 months. Its ability to validate Golden Configurations allows teams to proactively assess network design against human error. By automating root-cause analysis, the platform builds continuous resilience—turning every incident into a Golden Assessment, or learned immunity, that protects the entire hybrid infrastructure.

The platform includes NetBrain’s Golden Assessment Library, a pre-built, continually updated library of hundreds of ready-made assessments learned from real-world outages across industries. This equips enterprises with a form of network “herd immunity” to drive post-mortem assessments across their hybrid infrastructure. NetBrain recently secured recognition by Cyber Defense Magazine in the Top Infosec Innovator Awards for Most Innovative Security Validation.

NetBrain recently secured an investment with Blackstone Growth to acquire a majority stake in the company, valuing NetBrain at $750 million. This partnership gives NetBrain access to Blackstone’s global reach and operational expertise, accelerating plans to expand global presence, accelerate their award-winning partner program, and lead the next wave of innovation in AI-powered, human-led network automation.

About NetBrain Technologies

NetBrain, since 2004, pioneers network automation, empowering IT teams with no-code and AI. Its Next-Gen platform shifts from reactive visibility to proactive observability. Automating troubleshooting and change management, it boosts efficiency, reduces errors, and provides insights. Powered by a Digital Twin and intent-based automation, NetBrain scales automation and simplifies adoption. NetBrain is in use by more than one-third of the Fortune 500 and is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, with locations in Munich, Germany; Toronto, Canada; Hyderabad, India and Beijing, China. For more information, please visit www.netbrain.com.

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“Enterprises that adopt AI and automation can expect to accelerate their business outcomes which in turn will lead to more widespread adoption.”