Forward announced the general availability of Forward Predict, a new capability designed to enable safer Agentic NetOps. Using the mathematically accurate digital twin in Forward Enterprise, Forward Predict can deterministically assess the effects of proposed network changes before they are implemented in production. The technology gives AI agents and IT teams visibility into how changes could impact network connectivity, security, and compliance, providing the verification and safeguards needed for autonomous networking. Since its beta release in May, organizations in financial services, media, and technology have used Forward Predict to reduce network change risk and speed up delivery.
“Know before you act is more than a tagline, it’s the operating model Agentic NetOps requires,” said Nikhil Handigol, Chief AI Officer and co-founder of Forward. “AI agents can propose change at machine speed, but speed without proof of correctness just accelerates risk. Forward Predict verifies the impact of every proposed change with Forward’s mathematically accurate digital twin before execution. That gives agents the evidence they need to operate safely, and gives engineers the confidence to move faster.”
The Proof Layer for Safer Agentic NetOps
Safe Agentic NetOps depends on knowing what a proposed change will do before AI acts. Network change has always carried three specific, definable risks: security exposure, connectivity failure, and compliance violation. Without a mathematically accurate model of the production network to test against, those risks remain hidden until they surface as a breach, an outage, or an audit finding. Forward Predict makes them visible at design time, before a change reaches production.
- Predict network behavior before production. Model BGP, routing, path, ACL, and NAT changes against the digital twin to understand their impact on connectivity before deployment.
- Verify security and compliance impact. Test proposed changes against segmentation, reachability, and compliance requirements to surface risk at design time.
- Predict firewall behavior. Model proposed firewall-rule changes through the same prediction pipeline, including end-to-end reachability and isolation checks.
- Regression-test every change. Test proposed changes against required network behavior and vendor-specific configuration logic before they reach production. Unit testing for your network.
Proven in Beta
Since May, Forward Predict has been deployed in beta across financial services, media, and technology companies, including IG Group.
“We’ve been using Forward Predict for a few months now and continue to find new use cases,” said Steve Bamford, Senior Network Engineer at IG Group. “We extended it from validating our BGP and routing changes to our firewall rule workflow, where automated path checks now catch requests for rules that aren’t even necessary before they’re implemented. That’s cut our firewall change delivery time by roughly 95 percent and is saving our engineers more than 30 hours of manual work every month.”
Across the beta program, customers reduced change risk, accelerated delivery, and created measurable business value. One global company expects Forward Predict to deliver more than $3 million in annual benefits by reducing manual effort and improving change execution.
Forward Enterprise Continues to Expand
Forward continues to deepen the capabilities of Forward Enterprise, adding new integrations, security intelligence, and ways to access verified network knowledge across the same mathematically accurate digital twin.
- Broader hybrid and multi-cloud coverage:Â Zscaler ZPA and IBM Cloud are now generally available, modeled in the same digital twin as the rest of the network.
- Deeper multi-vendor support: Nine new devices across six vendors, including Cisco FMC and FTD, Check Point Maestro, and F5 Velos.
- Expanded security and compliance:Â New CIS-certified benchmarks, updated DISA STIG support, and vulnerability intelligence enriched with KEV and CWE classifications.
- More accessible network intelligence:Â Forward AI, Network Maps, and enhancements to NQE make verified network knowledge easier to access and use.
From Safer Agentic NetOps to Autonomous Networking
AI agents can generate and propose network changes at machine speed. However, if they are acting on stale data, assumptions, or without proper context, they cannot act safely. Forward Predict provides the proof layer between AI intent and production. Proposed changes can be tested end to end against the actual state of the network, exposing connectivity, security, and compliance impact before execution. When a change fails validation, specific evidence shows why, giving people and agents the information needed to revise the change before it reaches production.
That ability to know before AI acts is a critical step from safer Agentic NetOps toward trusted autonomous networking.
Availability
To request a free trial of Forward Predict, visit the website here.
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