Forward Networks unveils AI twin for safer operations

Forward Networks has launched Forward AI, a new capability in its Forward Enterprise network operations platform that combines agentic AI operations with the company's network digital twin technology.

The company said Forward AI targets network operations, security operations and cloud teams. It centres on a mathematically accurate digital twin that models how a production network behaves. Forward Networks said the approach produces answers based on verifiable network data, rather than assumptions.

The announcement comes as infrastructure and security teams test generative AI tools for IT operations. Vendors across observability, security and network management have started to ship products that use AI assistants and automated agents for diagnostics and change management. Forward Networks positioned its approach around a digital twin that can check proposed actions against a representation of the network.

Operational pressure

Forward Networks said network complexity has increased as organisations modernise applications and adopt cloud services. The company also said many IT teams face constraints on headcount. It described these trends as increasing pressure on reliability and security work at scale.

Forward Networks said AI-driven operations rely on accurate and complete data. It said teams need to validate the outcomes of actions taken by AI systems. The company described Forward AI as an attempt to pair automation with verification.

"When we founded Forward Networks, we started with a simple but strategic question: does the network actually behave as intended, by design, in production, and across changes," said David Erickson, CEO and Co-Founder, Forward Networks.

Forward Networks sells Forward Enterprise, which it describes as a network digital twin product. The firm said the tool builds a mathematically accurate model of a network. It said the model reflects network behaviour across changes.

Forward Networks named Goldman Sachs, PayPal, S&P Global and IBM among customers. The company also listed Dell and government agencies as users of its software.

Evidence and review

The company said Forward AI generates recommendations that operators can validate. It said each result includes evidence that teams can review. It also said operators can inspect the underlying data and the reasoning used to generate the outcome.

Forward Networks described this as a way to keep human review in the workflow. It said the aim is safe adoption of agentic AI in network operations.

"Forward Enterprise is already trusted by organizations running some of the largest and most complex networks in the world," said Nikhil Handigol, Co-Founder and Chief AI Officer, Forward Networks.

Handigol said Forward Networks used its experience with customers to identify operational areas where uncertainty and human error remain common. He said Forward AI extends the firm's digital twin across operations.

Third-party tools

Forward Networks said it will extend its verification approach beyond its own platform through support for the Model Context Protocol. It said this makes its network data and verification foundation available to enterprises and third-party developers.

The company said developers can use that support to build agentic tools grounded in what it describes as accurate and current network data. Forward Networks framed this as a way for AI agents and external systems to access trusted information about network behaviour.

A context sentence before a quote: Industry analysts have raised concerns about opaque AI recommendations in IT operations and security tools.

"Because Forward Enterprise delivers comprehensive, domain-specific network data for heterogeneous environments, it is well positioned to take advantage of agentic capabilities," said Bob Laliberte, Principal Analyst For Networking And Observability, theCUBE Research.

"Forward AI strengthens trust in AI by providing full transparency into how recommendations are generated. Exposing the reasoning behind AI-driven actions, keeps humans in the loop, builds confidence, and ultimately improves operational efficiency," said Laliberte.

Availability timeline

Forward Networks said Forward AI will be included in Forward Enterprise. The company said the capability is scheduled for general availability in April 2026.

Forward Networks was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It said it was founded by four Stanford PhDs and it listed investors including MSD Partners, Goldman Sachs, Andreessen Horowitz, Threshold Ventures, Section 32, Omega Venture Partners, and A. Capital. The company said it operates across multi-vendor networks and major cloud platforms including AWS, Azure and Google Cloud.