DEVOPSdigest

Gluware introduced Gluware 5, which includes new Gluware Topology, API modeling, and Gluware Service Connector features along with enhanced Gluware Network Robotic Process Automation (RPA) capabilities to accelerate digital transformation and network hyperautomation in enterprises.

Powered by Gluware's embedded intelligence, Gluware 5 enables users to gain substantial and rapid value by phasing out resource-intensive manual network management. Gluware empowers its users to forge a pathway toward fully-automated networks that provide a foundation for business innovation and competitive advantage.

"Gluware 5 provides the capabilities our customers need to manage and automate their enterprise networks even further - no matter their structure or complexity - without spending their precious time and resources on tedious coding or additional overhead," said Jeff Gray, CEO and Co-founder, Gluware. "These no-code enhancements build on the unparalleled capabilities Gluware brings to its users, enabling them to overcome the complexity of modern networks through hyperautomation and focus their efforts on advancing operational efficiencies, business services, and digital transformation."

Gluware 5 brings the latest upgrades to the Gluware Intelligent Network Automation Suite, including:

- Gluware Topology – New business priorities, moves-adds-changes, optimizations, and outage fixes all contribute to complex and ever-changing network infrastructures. Manual methods of troubleshooting and documenting the network are error-prone and become rapidly outdated, leading to extended outages, costly audit remediations, and regulatory action. Gluware Topology visualizes enterprise networks from a global perspective down to specific device connections to unlock new levels of detail, accelerate troubleshooting, and facilitate compliance document exporting.

Gluware Topology provides network diagramming and documentation that evolves with the network. Diagrams are automatically rendered and updated with data from Gluware's powerful device and network discovery capabilities. Device details have expanded to include site and location, enabling hierarchical mapping from a global, site, or device-specific view. Gluware Topology reduces troubleshooting time and operational expenses that result from updating network diagrams manually.

- API Modeling – As network infrastructures move from traditional Command Line Interfaces (CLIs) to API-based controllers, network engineers have realized the shortcomings of the embedded automation capabilities in most API-based controllers. Hybrid networks and the programmatic nature of this technology put additional strain on managing and automating networks. Gluware 5 overcomes these challenges by enabling intelligent southbound communication between the Gluware Intent-Based Networking Application Suite and API endpoints, removing the need to manually program device discovery, audits, configuration changes, and automation across the entire network.

Gluware 5 offers packaged no-code API support, enabling the guided experience available for CLI modeling, intent-based networking, and declarative provisioning to translate to API platforms. Today's launch includes pre-built support for Cisco Meraki, and future packaged releases will expand into other API-based controllers to unlock hyperautomation across even the most complex multi-vendor, multi-domain networks. Cisco Meraki support includes API-based device interrogation tools like data modeling, automatic API discovery (REST), third-party and custom API support, and direct model editor support. Gluware delivers the network automation expected of API-based controllers, saving substantial time and effort for network engineers looking to manage networks via API Modeling.

- Gluware Service Connectors – Gluware Service Connectors are pre-built API integration packages that enable northbound communication between the Gluware Intelligent Orchestration and Automation Engine and API integrations on the management plane. Gluware Service Connectors remove the need for complex network coding and come with robust IT and maintenance support from Gluware. This empowers users to leverage Gluware Network RPA for no-code, drag-and-drop process automation of tasks across APIs, including ServiceNow. For ServiceNow, Gluware users can automate REST-based capabilities such as problem, asset, incident, and change request management. The pre-built, event-driven tasks and workflows developed on Gluware Network RPA eliminate the need for hundreds of manual API calls across the network to streamline network management operations, save time, and advance network transformation at an enterprise scale.

Additional Gluware Service Connectors will be made available through future packaged releases. The EfficientIP REST-based capabilities, to be released in Q4 2022, will include DNS service management, DHCP service management, and IP address management.

- Gluware Network RPA – Gluware Network RPA, first introduced in April 2022, is an integrated application that enables users to create, manage, and monitor no-code workflows across a wide range of native and third-party integrations. By offering DevOps-style development for workflow-level progression (draft, test, production), Gluware Network RPA enables businesses to get on the NetDevOps fast track.

Its enhanced capabilities take no-code, drag-and-drop process automation to the next level, facilitating team collaboration through new and improved workflow commenting and sharing features. The update includes new capabilities for orchestrating Gluware's pre-built app suite without needing to develop workflows from scratch and improved variable management to make automating complex use cases easier than ever. Altogether, Gluware 5 bolsters the power and scale Gluware Network RPA brings to enterprise network automation initiatives.

"Gluware continues to transform enterprise networking and unlock competitive advantages for enterprises," said Nick Lippis, Co-founder and Co-chairman, ONUG. "Gluware's pre-built, no-code, intelligent network automation solutions are proven and provide an essential alternative to home-grown automation platforms, which take longer, cost more, deliver less functionality, and increase vulnerabilities through software management dependencies and technical debt. Gluware 5 delivers functionality that would take corporate IT teams years to build."

"Hyperautomation can't be limited to the low-hanging fruit of enterprise infrastructure, which is why Gluware API Modeling and Gluware Service Connectors have been developed to enable users to rapidly develop tasks and workflows that operate seamlessly across an entire enterprise ecosystem," said Ernest Lefner, Chief Product Officer, Gluware. "Our pre-built northbound and southbound API integrations eliminate the need for additional coding and professional services, radically increasing the speed and agility of customers' network management efforts and unlocking automated networks as the platform for digital transformation."