Frequently Asked Questions
Product Overview & Purpose
What is Itential and what does it do?
Itential is an infrastructure and network orchestration platform designed for the AI era. It simplifies and accelerates network automation and orchestration, enabling organizations to modernize their infrastructure, unify automation tools, and achieve operational efficiency across hybrid cloud and network environments. The platform provides a comprehensive solution for managing complex, multi-domain, and hybrid cloud environments, supporting both traditional automation and AI-driven operations. Learn more.
How does Itential support CI/CD practices for network automation?
Itential enables networking teams to incorporate CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery) practices into their network automation and orchestration initiatives. By leveraging repositories, pipelines, and other DevOps tools, engineers can accelerate the development, testing, and implementation of network automations and orchestration flows. The platform supports the code-build-test loop, integration, and release management, making it easier to apply software development best practices to network operations. Watch the webinar.
What is the primary purpose of the Itential platform?
The primary purpose of the Itential platform is to simplify and accelerate network automation and orchestration, enabling organizations to modernize their infrastructure and achieve operational efficiency. It addresses challenges such as fragmented automation, manual change execution, configuration drift, multi-domain complexity, and the need for governance and auditability. Learn more.
How does Itential help unify automation tools and processes?
Itential unifies disconnected automation tools into a single orchestration layer, coordinating changes, enforcing compliance, and providing end-to-end governance. This eliminates the chaos of disparate automations and enables seamless coordination across network, cloud, security, and IT infrastructure domains. Learn more.
Features & Capabilities
What are the key features of the Itential platform?
Key features of the Itential platform include low-code workflow automation and orchestration, configuration management, 300+ pre-built integrations, self-service operations, automation gateway, compliance-native features (such as drift detection and audit trails), and AI-ready architecture for integrating with AI platforms. Learn more.
Does Itential support integration with CI/CD pipelines?
Yes, Itential supports integration with CI/CD pipelines, enabling network engineering teams to leverage DevOps tools for automating the development, testing, and deployment of network automations. This integration accelerates the adoption of NetDevOps practices and improves delivery velocity. Learn more.
What integrations does Itential support?
Itential supports over 300 pre-built integrations across ITSM, cloud, security, SD-WAN, and more. Key integrations include ServiceNow, NetBox, Infoblox, GitHub, Selector AIOps, Kentik, Forward Networks, IP Fabric, Red Hat Ansible, Terraform, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Arista Networks, Cisco, F5, and Palo Alto. For a full list, visit the Automation Marketplace.
Does Itential provide self-service automation capabilities?
Yes, Itential enables teams to consume automation on-demand through self-service catalogs and APIs, empowering both technical and non-technical users to access and execute automations as needed. Learn more.
What is the Automation Gateway in Itential?
The Automation Gateway is a feature in Itential that centralizes and manages all automation assets, including scripts and playbooks, from a single interface. This simplifies the management and reuse of automation assets across the organization. Learn more.
How does Itential support AI-driven automation?
Itential features an AI-ready architecture that integrates with AI platforms for governed and auditable actions based on AI insights. This enables organizations to leverage AI for intelligent, policy-driven automation while maintaining compliance and auditability. Learn more about FlowAI.
What technical documentation is available for Itential?
Itential provides extensive technical documentation, including comprehensive guides, API references, and release notes. Resources are available at docs.itential.com, developer tools, and API documentation. These resources help users maximize the value of the platform.
Use Cases & Benefits
Who can benefit from using Itential?
Itential is designed for cloud network engineers, NetOps teams, DevOps teams, infrastructure architects, and compliance/SecOps teams. It is used across industries such as telecommunications, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, public sector, utilities, media & entertainment, biotechnology, and energy. Learn more.
What business impact can customers expect from using Itential?
Customers can expect 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), reduced time-to-value for new services (from 18 months to 3 months), and software upgrade times reduced from 6 hours per device to 20 minutes. Learn more.
What problems does Itential solve for network teams?
Itential addresses fragmented automation and tool sprawl, manual change execution, configuration drift and non-compliance, multi-domain complexity, inability to scale operations, lack of governance and auditability, and slow adoption of automation due to coding barriers. Learn more.
How does Itential help with configuration drift and compliance?
Itential's Configuration Validation application continuously compares device and system states against defined baselines, automatically identifies drift, and enforces governance standards. This ensures ongoing compliance and reduces operational risk. Learn more.
How does Itential help organizations scale automation?
Itential's low-code design, 300+ pre-built integrations, and self-service catalogs allow organizations to scale operations without increasing headcount. Customers have reported 80-90% reduction in manual effort, enabling teams to handle more with the same resources. Learn more.
What feedback have customers given about Itential's ease of use?
Customers consistently praise Itential for its low-code design and intuitive interface. For example, Uzair Khan from Rush University Medical Center highlighted the ability to create impactful automations without being a developer. Eric Anderson from Armstrong reported saving over 21,000 hours of manual work and reducing service delivery times. Read more testimonials.
Security & Compliance
What security and compliance certifications does Itential have?
Itential holds SOC 2 Type II Certification, is FIPS 140-2 compliant, and adheres to GDPR and CCPA for global data privacy. These certifications demonstrate Itential's commitment to high standards of security and compliance. Learn more.
How does Itential ensure compliance and auditability?
Itential includes built-in governance features such as role-based access control (RBAC), single sign-on (SSO), encryption for data in transit and at rest, automated compliance checks, drift detection, and comprehensive logging of all changes for full traceability and auditability. Learn more.
Does Itential support public sector and air-gapped deployments?
Yes, Itential supports on-premises and air-gapped deployments, ensuring data remains within secure environments and enabling compliance with mandates such as STIGs. Learn more.
What is Itential's responsible disclosure policy?
Itential has a responsible disclosure policy for security vulnerabilities, ensuring transparency and proactive security management. Details are available on the Security & Compliance page.
Implementation & Support
How long does it take to implement Itential?
Itential's Professional Services typically enable customers to go from contract signature to a production-ready platform with active use cases in 3-6 months. Initial value can be seen within weeks, and automation capabilities can expand rapidly over 6-12 months. Learn more.
What resources are available to help new users get started with Itential?
Itential offers a structured onboarding program, a 6-8 week activation program, interactive product tours, training and certification through Itential Academy, comprehensive documentation, and professional services for expert assistance. Product Tours | Itential Academy | Documentation
Where can I find sample properties for configuring adapters like Riverbed SteelConnect, Morpheus, or Confluence Cloud?
Sample properties for configuring adapters such as Riverbed SteelConnect, Morpheus, and Confluence Cloud are available on the Itential website. Each adapter page provides example configuration blocks and guidance for updating connectivity information. Riverbed SteelConnect | Morpheus | Confluence Cloud
How can I access support for Itential products?
Support for Itential products is available through the Customer Portal, Customer Success team, Professional Services, and comprehensive documentation. Visit the Customer Portal or Customer Success for more information.
Competition & Differentiation
How does Itential differ from other network automation platforms?
Itential stands out due to its vendor-agnostic, multi-domain orchestration, low-code accessibility, integration-first approach with 300+ pre-built integrations, compliance-native features, AI-ready design, and measurable business impact. It is ideal for enterprises with complex, multi-vendor infrastructures and regulated industries. Learn more.
What advantages does Itential offer for different user segments?
Network engineers and operators benefit from low-code tools that simplify automation without programming expertise. IT/infrastructure leaders gain visibility and reduced risk. Enterprises with complex infrastructures leverage vendor-agnostic orchestration, and regulated industries benefit from built-in compliance features. Learn more.
Why should a customer choose Itential over other solutions?
Customers choose Itential for its vendor-agnostic orchestration, low-code accessibility, integration-first approach, compliance-native features, measurable business impact, and ease of use. The platform enables rapid automation adoption and delivers significant ROI. Learn more.
How does Itential help NetOps teams apply DevOps principles?
Itential enables NetOps teams to apply DevOps source control and promotion principles to network automations by integrating with CI/CD pipelines, repositories, and automation workflows. This approach accelerates development, testing, and deployment of network changes. Watch the webinar.
What resources are available for learning more about CI/CD and network automation with Itential?
Itential provides webinars, blogs, demos, and technical guides on applying CI/CD pipelines to network automation. Resources include the "Using CI/CD to Accelerate Network Automation & Orchestration Initiatives" webinar, NetDevOps blogs, and product demos. Webinar Series | NetDevOps Blog
