AI-Driven Network Automation and Insights with Opengear’s Production Platform

This session will feature live demos showing how Opengear’s Unified Digital Operations Platform (UDOP) uses an Independent Data Management Path (IDMP) to overcome data silos, improve security, and reduce congestion. Attendees will see how UDOP enables resilient operations, enforces governance end to end, and powers proactive, agentic AI to drive automation from day one.

The presentation focuses on the practical application of OpenGear’s Unified Digital Operations Platform (UDOP) in standard network engineering scenarios, encompassing design, deployment, operations, and troubleshooting. The demo highlights how UDOP, enhanced with agentic AI, addresses key challenges in network management. The presentation details various OpenGear solutions, including Lighthouse Service Portal (LSP), Smart Management Fabric (SMF), and Connected Resource Catalog (CRC), emphasizing the extensibility and flexibility of the OpenGear platform beyond traditional console servers. The demo showcases a high level network architecture and a detailed network diagram to illustrate the use of these tools in real world scenarios.

The presentation outlines a scenario where Acme Corporation expands its Utah location, requiring the integration of a new rack into the existing network. The process begins with a network architect creating a diagram, which is then converted into structured JSON data using a custom web application. This data is pushed to the Connected Resource Catalog (CRC), enabling automated inventory management. The demo further illustrates the staging process at an integration lab, where the OpenGear Operations Manager (OM) utilizes LSP for zero touch provisioning. This process automates the configuration of connected devices, including Cisco routers, and reconciles the deployed devices with the reference design. The presentation also covers the operational phase, demonstrating how the system handles vulnerability audits by checking CVEs and generating reports, and how log analytics are used to identify and address network issues like port flapping.

The presentation concludes with a discussion of log analytics and the use of AI to analyze log data for network troubleshooting. Matt Witmer demonstrated how the system can identify potential network issues, such as spanning tree loops, by analyzing log data streamed from connected resources. The AI, while still in early development, shows promise in providing actionable insights, though it requires further training to differentiate between standard functional behavior and actual network anomalies. The presentation also addressed the flexibility of the system, including the ability to swap out AI models and integrate with customer’s private AI systems. The demo underscores the early stage of development but highlights the potential of OpenGear’s UDOP in streamlining network operations and enhancing security through intelligent automation.