ONE Summit 2024

Network data — provided it’s clean, quality data — is the true foundation of network automation. It attacks the problem head-on and provides the path for long-term success. This session aims to explore the transformative power of a data-driven approach in streamlining network automation processes. However, the challenge is that in many environments, there is no common understanding of the full data needed to describe the current state of the network. It is usually spread across several systems — often spreadsheets and local databases — and these repositories are not documented and don't talk to each other. Through this session, attendees will gain an understanding of how the network is a stateful entity. It has a desired state, and we should define that state as a golden truth. By having the right data about the network, we can then take what the network is telling us it’s doing and compare that against the golden truth. Attendees will also understand the answers to questions such as: “How can organizations truly start to embrace network automation?” and “What should organizations be thinking about when it comes to SoT?”