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Autocon4 Viewpoint

AutoCon4 and NautoCon@AutoCon are in the books. It was quite the day, and I have to say that it ranks among my best days of the year in Network Automation — right up there with being able to meet up with the Network to Code team earlier in the year. It was great to see many friends from across the community. Hopefully we’ll be able to keep the conversation going in Slack and maintain the momentum.

Personal Highlights#

I wasn’t able to attend every session due to some unavoidable day-to-day responsibilities, but I want to share a few of the highlights that stood out to me. If I missed anything, it’s not from a lack of effort — just time and priorities.

NautoCon@AutoCon#

This was the first time the Network to Code team has hosted this event, and it delivered a great collection of real-world perspectives from organizations using Nautobot to solve practical problems. The group had a strong discussion. Rather than summarizing it here, I’ll add a comment with a timestamp once the videos are posted.

The Hallway Track#

I’ll start with my favorite non-Nautobot part of the event — the hallway track. It was great to say hi to familiar faces and meet new ones. I reconnected with several people I rarely see in person, and for that I say THANK YOU — just for showing up and being among others.

On the professional side, it was especially rewarding to meet customers of Network to Code who have entrusted us to deliver automation services and real value. It’s important to me that I keep driving the needle forward. If I ever reach a point where I’m not adding value — then it’s time for something different. Thankfully, that’s not the case right now. Things are very much moving forward.

Presentations Attended#

There were multiple things happening for me during the event that kept me from attending every session, but I still caught several. Many were strong, and they sparked ideas I want to keep pursuing.

One theme I’ll be writing about more in an upcoming post: there was a fair amount of CLI-driven automation — which is a great starting point — but the variety of automation types was even more encouraging. Across the talks I attended, I saw coverage across much of the device lifecycle. However, the early phases — Design and Pre-Deployment — were largely absent. I’d place the excellent talk by Greg Botts of Intel firmly in the Deployment phase since it focused on configuring hardware.

Greg Botts — Overhauling Data Center Network Automation: Intel’s Data-Centric Journey#

This was a fantastic talk. It covered a lot — a real success story about putting data center automation in place with the right approach. They are well-positioned for the future, with everything needed to scale or handle break/fix replacements with ease. Once the video is published, this is one to prioritize.

Cat Gurinsky — Lifecycle Automation: Troubleshooting, Upgrading & More#

Cat walked through her journey in accelerating upgrades of data center gear. My biggest takeaway: iteration matters. This is a staple of successful Network Automation — you start with your experiences and build on them as new ones come.

Chris Grundemann — 2025 State of Network Automation Survey Results#

I had to duck out a bit early for this one, but it’s a strong report and helps highlight key trends across the Network Automation community. It was grounded in facts and worth reviewing when the final results become available.

Summary#

Overall, this event remains my favorite non-internal one to attend. From meeting like-minded individuals to exploring the latest trends — it’s an incredible gathering of professionals in the Network Automation space.

What was your favorite part? Any other thoughts?

— Josh

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