{
  "id": 1002947,
  "title": "‘Every other industry running mission critical infrastructure solved this problem years ago’: Why autonomous networking is in dire need of a digital twin",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/15/every-other-industry-running-mission-critical-infrastructure-solved",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-08-15T09:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "TechRadar",
    "slug": "techradar",
    "url": "https://www.techradar.com/pro/every-other-industry-running-mission-critical-infrastructure-solved-this-problem-years-ago-why-autonomous-networking-is-in-dire-need-of-a-digital-twin"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Autonomous networking requires a safety-first approach, and Forward, a startup specializing in this area, believes its solution could revolutionize network stability and uptime. The company has developed a mathematically accurate digital twin of the production environment, which allows for testing changes without affecting the actual network. This is a concept that has been used in software development and other industries for decades, but it's particularly crucial in the world of networking where changes can have far-reaching consequences.\n\nForward's solution, Forward Predict, aims to prevent 100% of network outages caused by configuration errors. It achieves this by providing a deterministic outcome for every proposed change, ensuring that there are no surprises when the change is implemented. The digital twin is built from the configuration and operational state of every device in the network, using header space analysis to trace every possible path any packet can take. This ensures that the model is mathematically accurate and up-to-date, reflecting the current state of the network.\n\nThe platform regularly collects state from the live network, allowing for fresh snapshots before any push, ensuring the digital twin remains current. This continuous synchronization is what makes the proof trustworthy, as it's only as good as its inputs. If a change breaks something or opens a security hole, the platform will show exactly why. This level of transparency and control is a stark contrast to the traditional firefighting approach that is still prevalent in many organizations.\n\nForward's co-founder and Chief AI Officer, Nikhil Handigol, believes that this technology could have prevented major high-profile incidents involving companies like Amazon and Cloudflare. By allowing systems to autonomously test changes pre-deployment, Forward aims to eliminate network outages caused by configuration errors. This approach not only improves network stability but also reduces costs, as change windows that once took weeks can now be completed in minutes.",
  "summary": "The journey to autonomous networking is already underway, but without digital twins we could still experience major interruptions.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}