NetDevOps is the union of NetOps and DevOps, combining best practices from both to streamline network automation and collaboration. Itential supports NetDevOps by providing a platform that enables end-to-end orchestration, integrates with ITSM and security systems, and allows teams to automate network changes without manual intervention. Source
Itential enables teams to adopt an API-first, high-reusability approach, integrating network automation with IT systems and allowing end users to request network services directly. This breaks down silos by making network changes accessible and consumable by everyone, not just network engineers. Source
Self-service networking allows users outside the network team to request and execute network changes through simple interfaces. Itential delivers this by exposing automations as catalog items in systems like ServiceNow, GitHub Actions, and other IT platforms, enabling safe and efficient network changes for a broader audience. Source
Itential's API-first approach enables seamless integration with monitoring, inventory, ITSM, and ticketing systems. Automations can dynamically read data or push changes across domains, and processes can be exposed as microservices for consumption by any API-based system. Source
Itential offers over 300 pre-built integrations, including adapters for ServiceNow, NetBox, Infoblox, GitHub, Selector AIOps, Kentik, Forward Networks, IP Fabric, Red Hat Ansible, Terraform, messaging systems like Slack and Teams, Arista Networks, Cisco, F5, and Palo Alto. Source
Itential leverages JSON schema for easy data transformation, allowing flexible translation between automation steps without prescribing a specific data model. This supports integration with diverse systems and simplifies workflow creation. Source
Customers like S&P Global report delivering services the same day without reskilling, thanks to Itential's hybrid environment support. Armstrong World Industries saved over 21,000 hours of manual work, and Rush University Medical Center praised the platform's low-code accessibility. Source
Itential exposes automations as catalog items in ServiceNow, GitHub Actions, and other IT systems, enabling teams outside the network group to safely request and execute network changes. This approach supports self-service and broadens automation adoption. Source
Itential helps organizations modernize network infrastructure by unifying automation tools, enabling end-to-end orchestration, and supporting hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Its platform accelerates service delivery and fosters innovation. Source
Itential's platform is designed to work across hybrid and multi-cloud environments, integrating with diverse tools and systems to orchestrate network changes and automate workflows regardless of infrastructure complexity. Source
Itential's low-code design empowers both technical and non-technical users to create impactful automations quickly, reducing dependency on specialized skills and accelerating adoption of automation practices. Source
Itential uses OpenAPI/SwaggerSpec to auto-generate adapters for additional systems, supporting rapid integration and standardization across diverse IT and network environments. Source
The Packet Pushers Heavy Networking podcast features Itential's CTO and Co-Founder, Chris Wade, discussing NetDevOps, self-service, and the future of networking. Listen to the full episode here.
Interactive product tours of the Itential Platform are available here, providing hands-on experience with its features and capabilities.
Itential enables platform engineering and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) by managing network elements through machine-readable definition files, supporting version control, repeatability, and automation of infrastructure changes. Source
JSON schema is used in Itential's automation workflows to validate input forms and facilitate data transformation, ensuring compatibility and flexibility across integrated systems. Source
Itential's platform allows network and IT teams to collaborate on assets and processes by integrating automation across domains, supporting shared workflows, and enabling self-service for end users. Source
Key features include workflow automation and orchestration, configuration management, over 300 pre-built integrations, self-service operations, automation gateway, compliance-native features, and AI-ready architecture. Source
Yes, Itential supports Infrastructure as Code by enabling management and provisioning of network infrastructure through machine-readable definition files, supporting version control and automated deployment. Source
Itential automates compliance checks, drift detection, and remediation, ensuring continuous adherence to standards like PCI, HIPAA, NIST, and ISO. Every change is logged for auditability. Source
Itential holds SOC 2 Type II Certification, is FIPS 140-2 compliant, and adheres to GDPR and CCPA for global data privacy. Source
Itential logs every orchestration execution, including pre/post validation results, approval chains, and timestamps, providing full traceability for audits and compliance verification. Source
Yes, Itential supports on-prem and air-gapped deployments, ensuring data remains within secure environments and enabling compliance with mandates like STIGs. Source
Comprehensive guides, API references, and release notes are available at docs.itential.com, with developer tools at our developer tools page and API documentation at apidocs.itential.com.
Itential offers a certified ServiceNow app, allowing published automations to be run directly in ServiceNow with input validations via JSON forms, streamlining ITSM processes. Source
The Automation Gateway centralizes and manages all automation assets, including scripts and playbooks, from a single interface, supporting governance and reuse across the organization. Source
Cloud network engineers, NetOps, DevOps, infrastructure architects, compliance and SecOps teams across industries like telecom, finance, healthcare, manufacturing, public sector, utilities, media, biotech, and energy benefit from Itential's platform. Source
Itential delivers a 10x increase in operational agility, 85% reduction in change-related incidents, 70% reduction in infrastructure operations costs, faster service delivery (from 45 days to same day), and reduced time-to-value for new services (from 18 months to 3 months). Source
Itential solves fragmented automation and tool sprawl, manual change execution, configuration drift, multi-domain complexity, inability to scale operations, lack of governance and auditability, and slow adoption of automation. Source
Organizations can go from contract signature to production-ready platform with active use cases in 3-6 months, with initial value seen within weeks. A structured activation program ensures rapid adoption and scaling. Source
Itential offers a structured onboarding program, activation program, interactive product tours, training and certification via Itential Academy, comprehensive documentation, and professional services for expert assistance. Source
Enterprise customers include Armstrong, Blackfoot Comms, Colt, Corning, Deutsche Telekom, Fiserv, Irideos, Leidos, Liberty Global, Lumen, Rush, S&P Global, Southern California Edison, Tim, and Virgin Media O2. Source
Yes, stories from Armstrong World Industries, a multinational biotech company, and others are available on the Itential customers page.
Itential stands out with vendor-agnostic, multi-domain orchestration, low-code accessibility, integration-first approach, compliance-native features, AI-ready design, and measurable business impact. It is ideal for enterprises with complex, multi-vendor environments and regulated industries. Source
Regulated industries benefit from Itential's built-in governance features, audit trails, policy enforcement, and compliance automation, ensuring secure and reliable operations across distributed networks. Source
Itential's low-code platform lowers the barrier to entry, enabling network engineers to build and consume automations without coding expertise, fostering an automation-first culture across organizations. Source
The Itential blog features articles on automation, networking, and platform updates. Read the latest posts at itential.com/blog.
Articles tagged 'Integrations' cover infrastructure and network orchestration, AI, customer success stories, and platform updates, exploring how Itential integrates with various technologies and strategies. Source
Yes, Itential regularly posts articles and podcasts on automation, industry trends, and platform updates. Access them at itential.com/blog and podcasts.
Customers can access the portal and support at itential.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portals for assistance and resources.
Chief Marketing Officer ‐ Itential
What do you think when you hear ‘NetDevOps?’
It’s a term that’s picked up a lot of steam in recent years, as network teams work to transform the way they build and manage network automations in order to more flexibly support the business. NetDevOps is about bringing the best of DevOps and the best of NetOps together to create a more streamlined and efficient operating model, where both sets of teams can collaborate on assets and processes.
It’s important to network transformation and modernization efforts, streamlining and facilitating automation across networking and IT infrastructure. Just like with all high-level concepts, we can break NetDevOps down into its parts to build a real, tangible understanding — not just as a concept, but for a realistic view of what it means for you and your team moving forward.
That’s exactly what Itential’s CTO and Co-Founder, Chris Wade, sat down with Ethan Banks and Greg Ferro of Packet Pushers’ Heavy Networking to do. I highly recommend this podcast episode for any network engineers or operators who want to get a big-picture view of the future of networking, including key concepts like NetDevOps and self-service, without having to pore over some fifteen-page white paper. The full episode is here — now, let’s get into some of the highlights.
Imagine this scenario (maybe more like remember it). You’ve just completed a network change — provisioning a firewall, let’s say. Instead of moving on to key network management activities, or even just moving on to the next routine change, you need to swivel-chair over to other systems. You close out your ITSM ticket, then go send some update to the security team, and only now once you’ve confirmed those steps do you get to swap back to, you know, actually managing the network.
What if instead, you could automate the update to the security team, integrating with the systems they use to push messages for every change you make? And what if your tickets no longer required you to switch over to an ITSM system yourself — and you could simply automate updating the ticket alongside the steps of an automated network change process? This kind of end-to-end orchestration is the promise of a NetDevOps approach.
So take it for what it is — NetDevOps is a union of NetOps and DevOps, taking what other IT teams have learned over the last years and bringing it to networking while also freeing core networking knowledge from its silo. That way, applications and services that require connectivity are actually built with the network team’s input, and your infrastructure works better together.
“Take what the teams have built, and take the technologies that are available from the modern ecosystem, and blend them together so the team can work together and achieve the outcomes we all want.”
— Chris
There are several components to breaking the silos to bring networking and the rest of IT together. First, though, is an evolution: extending both mindset and toolset to adopt the API-first, high-reusability approach that characterizes modern IT environments and leveraging all the resources the modern networking team has available to them, instead of remaining culturally stuck.
When we think about modern networking tools, such as SD-WAN, they are coming with automation capabilities built-in, just like other IT systems. Notification systems, ticketing and ITSM, domain-specific networking technologies like firewalls or DNS IPAM — there’s automation being provided for all these solutions. This is especially important going forward since networking must become “the fabric of IT” as Chris puts it. Everything, everything, relies on connectivity.
And the networking silo doesn’t only impact the network team’s side of things. “What [Itential’s] customers have been requesting,” Chris says in the episode, “is self-service. So instead of us fulfilling requests on behalf of end users, users would like to come request the network, just like they do any other infrastructure.”
“We want to fit network automation into the operational paradigm of our end users.”
— Chris
Breaking the silo and adopting NetDevOps means you can deliver self-service networking to your end users — your automations can both integrate with the systems they use to manage their work today and run across all integrated systems without requiring your manual input.
This accelerates service delivery, driving innovation across the organization while simultaneously making your life easier.
Sound appealing? Here’s how Itential can help you achieve it.
The biggest piece is our API-first approach to automation. The Itential Automation Platform offers seamless integration capabilities with your networking and IT systems, enabling automations to dynamically read data from or push changes to monitoring systems, inventory, ITSM and ticketing systems, and more.
To facilitate easy integration, Itential provides a collection of over 200 Pre-Built Adapters and Integrations to various systems, and we also leverage standardization in APIs and OpenAPI/SwaggerSpec to auto-generate adapters to additional systems you may need. Then, we use JSON to provide easy data transformation capabilities, leveraging JSON schema to translate data between automation steps rather than prescribing a specific data model.
It’s this flexible, API-driven approach that allows our users to expose automations to whatever environments they need. Itential exposes its API northbound for consumption by any other API-based system, and any processes in Itential can be exposed as microservices. Then, by enabling automations to work seamlessly across all your domains and systems, Itential enables self-service network changes to be completely automated.
One of the most widely used methods for exposure is our certified ServiceNow app, which allows published automations to be run by the IT team right in ServiceNow, complete with input validations via JSON forms. And that’s just the beginning – already, we’re exposing automations through GitHub Actions and other IT systems.
Bringing networking into the modern landscape of IT infrastructure might sound like a daunting endeavor, even when the need to deliver a cloud-like experience is only becoming more important. But this same complex and growing landscape is producing more resources, more APIs, more automation assets, more tools, and more strategies. Network teams aren’t making their way alone in the desert when it comes to automation – the path is already there.
A big thank you to Ethan and Greg and the entire Packet Pushers team – any networking pro who listens to this episode will come away with an understanding of Itential, a working definition of NetDevOps, and the knowledge that self-service automation is an achievable, practical goal.
To listen to the full Packet Pushers episode with Chris, Greg, and Ethan, check it out here. And for a guided look at the Itential Automation Platform, be sure to check out our free, interactive Platform Tour.
Chief Marketing Officer ‐ Itential
Kristen serves as Chief Marketing Officer for Itential, leading their go-to-market strategy and execution to accelerate the adoption and expansion of the company’s products and services.
