What Is Automation For The Future Of Network Engineering?

The rise of AI and machine learning, now known as the fourth industrial revolution, is expected to have a dramatic impact on the IT sector and the entire global economy. By 2030, 85% of the work people will have (just 12 years away) won't exist. Trends such as software-defined networking and automation in manufacturing are changing the workforce, training and required work skills every day. How can network engineer prepare for the transition?

From a network structure perspective, today's data centers tend to eliminate the possibility of human error by providing a pre-defined application network profile directly in the stateless network structure. Cisco's Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) and VMWare's NSX are great examples of software-defined networks that automatically translate best-practice configurations into network configurations in seconds.

Cisco is working with Oracle and SAP to jointly develop application network profiles so that IT departments within an organization can see that the network structure has a clean, best-practice configuration. Reference architectures such as VBlock, FlexPod and SmartStack are similar, but the actual network architecture. "Manual configuration and manual errors are at the heart of the data center, so programmability and automation are very important," a Microsoft executive said recently.

This is an inevitable trend and the next area is to remove complexity and speed deployment. Visionary network engineers are aware of this fact and will be familiar and ready with this final shift in due course.

Dealing with fear

 Network Engineering LoriMacVittie emphasizes that engineers need to consider this trend in an article titled "Network Engineers: Don't Fear Code". It is stated that using this form of automation does not eliminate the labor. Engineers just have to adapt. The author points out

"In particular, engineers are concerned that coding might be required (of course they are given terms like" infrastructure as code "). They are concerned about the necessary skills and abilities that they may not have. Continuous delivery seems to be designed to Slowly but surely end development and operations, push into the network, and push code with it. ""

Network engineers need to be aware that nothing is permanent and that changes / improvements are inevitable. Network engineers have always been an important part of IT, but in the future this could be done through slightly different media. MacVittie goes well with this. "Do you need new skills? Probably, but you also use existing ones, relying on the knowledge and skills network engineers already have. Finally, before scripting and auto-provisioning. Someone needs to know how traffic is on port." 8080 the switching infrastructure is blocked (enter your preferred provider here). "

What can you do

 Change, especially automation, is terrifying when job security issues are in balance. The best way for engineers to tackle this is to recognize and accept these changes, learn new skills, and work on adapting the fundamental skills that are essential to maintaining value in a highly competitive marketplace . As MacVittie says, "Don't be afraid of the code."

Mind Site can help

Customers use the extensive experience and state-of-the-art knowledge base of Mindsight engineers to design and deploy modern IT infrastructure and communication systems for business users without endangering production systems. We act as a support and escalation resource for unique system problems. By overcoming the challenges of day-to-day operational requirements and the time and risk involved in learning and deploying the latest technology, Mindsight engineers are an affordable and convenient addition to your in-house team.