Itential, Kentik add integrated network observability to NetOps workflows

In a move that the companies say will revolutionise network workflows for the enterprise with integrated network observability and automation, Itential and Kentik have integrated their platforms to enable NetOps teams to build and run automations to act on any event, from security risks to network optimisation, resulting in more accurate, secure and efficient network infrastructure.

Explaining what is driving their collaboration, the companies said that with the increasing complexity and significance of networks, businesses worldwide are seeking greater intelligence and actionable insights to enhance their network infrastructure, connected resources and digital experiences. Concurrently, the amount of network data accessible to enterprises is rapidly expanding, as connections, traffic volumes, active threats and intricate exchanges continue to rise. The firms added that much of this data requires a response from the network team, who are already constrained with the backlog of daily, manual network changes, making it difficult to find time to act on anything new.

The Kentik observability platform is designed to enable organisations to collect telemetry input from all critical network elements and turn that data into insights and actionable alerts for infrastructure teams. For its part, Itential looks to allow infrastructure teams to automate network and security configuration changes across hybrid multi-cloud networks and quickly integrate with IT systems to orchestrate the entire end-to-end change management process.

The technical alliance is said by the firms to be able to bring security, reliability and agility to networking, making it easier for enterprises to automate and manage complex hybrid multi-cloud networks. It will see Kentik’s network observability platform combined with Itential’s network-centric automation and orchestration platform, so that NetOps teams can enable closed-loop automations in response to intelligently generated network events, ensuring critical infrastructure operates more securely and reliably than ever before.

By integrating these two platforms together, Itential and Kentik say network teams can build automations using “unique” observability features, making changes to the network in real time for high-priority incidents and notify the appropriate teams of these changes via group messaging and IT change management systems.

“Automation and observability have long been independent pillars of network innovation,” said Itential chief technology officer Chris Wade. “As infrastructure becomes increasingly distributed, enterprises now require observability data to integrate with and drive their automation efforts. Our partnership with Kentik highlights the demand for seamless integration between observability and automation platforms at the API level, empowering NetOps teams to swiftly and confidently address issues faster and with greater confidence through automation.”

Kentik chief product officer Christoph Pfister said: “Our vision has always been to link insights to automation and … we are taking big steps forward by providing an out-of-the-box integration with Itential’s best-in-class automation solution.”

The partnership announcement was made at the AutoCon 0 event from the Network Automation Forum, a community for information exchange, discussion and the support of insight into architectures and tools for superior network operations through effective automation.

Commenting on the partnership, cofounder and managing director Scott Robohn said: “The Network Automation Forum was founded to drive effective and practical network automation adoption, in much the same way that other technology sectors have done successfully. When modern technology vendors like Itential and Kentik combine their efforts by integrating their solutions, they streamline the path and accelerate the adoption of network automation.”