By: Rene Hummen

Planning a network transformation project requires certain technical building blocks, of course: defined target architectures, specific platforms and partners, appropriate security controls, and the ability to configure Operational Technology (OT) networks and keep them running smoothly. But there’s another essential piece of the puzzle that isn’t often thought about or given equal attention: the people responsible for the network.

Network operators and technicians must be able to keep up with the network as it transforms, day in and day out, under normal conditions and under stress. The changes that come along with network transformation land squarely on operations teams whose members may or may not have the time, skills, or capacity to adapt at the same rate as network complexity.

Configuring OT networks and keeping them running is becoming harder and harder. OT networks are now deeply diverse. They span wired and wireless systems, support a wide range of devices, integrate cloud and on-premises resources, and unite Information Technology (IT) and OT domains. As industrial networks become more connected and software-driven, the number of policies, paths, devices, and data flows that operators must manage increases dramatically.

Operators can’t continue to rely on these same tools and processes they used when the network environment was smaller and more static. Outdated manual workflows (think spreadsheets, Visio diagrams, and siloed monitoring tools) don’t help in these complex environments. In fact, they make things worse: They increase complexity because they aren’t flexible or easily scalable. In other words, they create bottlenecks and make network resilience more difficult to achieve and maintain.

Why network transformation needs a new operations model

A transformation strategy that doesn’t account for this new and complex operational reality is risky. It can lead to networks that are increasingly difficult to understand, validate, and support when something goes wrong. Networks need to be able to not only support new services and traffic patterns but also be designed so teams can understand, operate, and validate them with confidence.

This is where intent-based networking (IBN) comes in. An intent-based network is grounded on one simple question: What do you want your network to achieve? This could focus on more uptime, stronger security, better segmentation, or guaranteed performance for critical applications. Once those goals have been defined, they can be translated into appropriate configuration steps and policies that are automatically implemented across the network. For example, you might require critical controllers and safety systems to be segmented from enterprise IT traffic, maintain a specific latency threshold, and have redundant paths available. The network can then automatically configure and adjust routing, access controls and segmentation policies to meet these requirements.

The same intent that drives configuration guides how the network is observed and verified. To track device status, traffic and security events in real-time, OT network monitoring runs continuously and automatically. It then relates that information back to the defined intent to confirm that the network is behaving as expected.

How intent-based networking sustains transformation

In true network transformation, the network is expected to support new services, tighter security controls and more frequent changes … all without adding operational vulnerabilities.

Intent-based networking plays a key role in making network transformation sustainable because it tackles what humans can’t reliably ensure. As the environment becomes more dynamic, it aligns intent, configuration, and live behavior. It offers a structured