ARTICLE | Mar 03, 2026

Forward Networks Integrates Agentic NetOps Into the Digital Twin Platform

Enterprise network operations teams are under pressure to investigate issues faster, reduce manual effort, and extract more value from existing platforms. According to Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), the effectiveness of AI-driven network management depends on the quality and accuracy of underlying data. Forward Networks enhanced its digital twin platform with Forward AI, an agentic AI capability fully integrated into its mathematically accurate network model.

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Industry Recognition

2025 Globee Golden Cybersecurity Award - Forward Networks

Forward Networks is once again recognized as an industry leader in network cybersecurity with the 2025 Globee Awards Winner for Cybersecurity.

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Introducing Forward AI

Forward Networks, a provider of network digital twin technology, enhanced its platform with a new agentic AI capability that allows users to explore and understand complex issues via a conversational interface. Forward AI is fully integrated into the mathematically accurate digital twin platform and has access to all the behavioral network data and features of that platform. When users enter a prompt into Forward AI, its agents build a plan and execute a series of tasks to provide insights and evidence to network engineers quickly so that they act. This AI capability will allow engineers to quickly understand the cause and impact of an incident and execute a remediation plan with confidence. Forward AI will not only save time. It will change how operations teams work.

Making a Powerful Platform Easier to Use

Forward AI essentially automates how a typical user would interact with Forward’s network twin. The Forward platform has multiple tools and a query language (NQE) that power users can leverage to investigate network and security issues, but it can take time to plan and execute those investigations on the platform.

Forward AI’s agents automate those steps. When a user enters a natural language prompt, the agents determine which tools it needs to use, writes complex NQE queries, performs a series of network path analyses, and so on. It can deliver insights faster and automatically, thus augmenting both power users and new users.

For instance, a network engineer receives a ticket about a reachability issue between two hosts. Typically, the engineer would have to gather info about the two hosts, identify the path between them, and conduct a hop-by-hop analysis to discover which network device is blocking communications. Forward AI does all of that automatically and presents a natural language explanation of the problem along with evidence to back up its insights and recommendations on how to fix the issue.

Forward Networks is also taking an open approach to agentic operations. Forward AI will interact with third-party systems, such as IT service management, network sources of truth, and network observability to get more context and to integrate workflows across platforms. Forward is also committed to allowing customers to bring their own AI models and agents to its platform by developing an MCP server for agentic interaction with its platform.

EMA Perspective

EMA research finds that data makes or breaks AI-driven network management solutions. Good data leads to good insights. Forward Networks is an ultimate source of good data. Its ability to discover, normalize, analyze, and contextualize network state provides a powerful foundation for agentic network operations. Like all good network management tools, Forward’s platform is powerful but complex. It takes time to learn how to use its various features, and it takes time to formulate a plan for how to leverage the platform to solve problems. Forward AI lowers the platform’s learning curve and accelerates how users interact with it. Based on the demos shared with Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), we believe this agentic AI capability makes Forward’s digital network twin more powerful and valuable. With Forward AI, network teams will be more likely to incorporate this platform into day-to-day operations, thus delivering a bigger return on investment in the platform.