Munich, Germany · June 2026 · Network Automation Forum
Network automation has a technology problem — but that's not why it stalls. The tools exist. The frameworks are mature. The protocols work. AutoCon 5 spends three days on the harder question: why is full adoption still so elusive, and what does it actually take to get there?
Organized by the Network Automation Forum and built entirely around practitioner experience — no pay-to-play content, no marketecture — AutoCon is the largest dedicated network automation conference in the world. AutoCon 5 brings 700+ engineers to Munich for five days of workshops, talks, and conversations that don't exist anywhere else.
Pre-Conference · Mon–Tue 8–9 June
Workshops
16 workshops · 4 suggested tracks · 4 time blocks · choose one per block · separate ticket required
| Python-First Practitioner | AI-Native Operations | Data-Driven Infrastructure | Engineering Craft | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon AM09:00–13:00 | Python & Data Basics Rick Donato · Packet Coders Beginner |
From RAG to MCP John Capobianco · Itential Beginner |
Zero to Hero: Model-Driven Programmability Francois Caen · Cisco Intermediate |
Better Labs with Codespaces Carl Buchmann · Arista Networks Intermediate |
| Mon PM14:00–18:00 | Config Mgmt: Git, Nornir, NAPALM & Jinja2 Rick Donato · Packet Coders Intermediate |
AI Kitchen: Hands-On AI for Networking Eric Chou · Network to Code Intermediate |
Building a Network Source of Truth Alex Gittings · Opsmill Intermediate |
(Py)Test Your Automation Urs Baumann · NAF Community Intermediate |
| Tue AM09:00–13:00 | Testing & Validation with Pytest Rick Donato · Packet Coders Intermediate |
5-Agent AI System to Cut MTTR Eduard Dulharu · vExpertAI Advanced |
Self-Healing Networks: NetBox & EDA Mark Coleman · NetBox Labs Beginner |
Modern Network Observability & AI David Flores · CoreWeave Intermediate |
| Tue PM14:00–18:00 | CI/CD Workflows with GitHub Actions Rick Donato · Packet Coders Intermediate |
Spec-Driven Dev for AI Coding Hector Isaza · Networkingdev Intermediate |
Digital Twin as Foundation for AI Ops Daren Fulwell · IP Fabric Intermediate |
Mastering gRPC: gNMI, gNOI, gNSI, gRIBI Reda Laichi · Nokia All Levels |
Selections must be made at time of purchase. Sessions fill first-come, first-served. Full details: networkautomation.forum/autocon5
Wednesday, 10 June
▲ Opening Keynote
The Cognitive Biases Behind Automation's Failures and Future Successes
Michael Bushong · VP Data Center — Nokia
Our industry has poured billions into network automation. Most networks remain largely un-automated. This keynote argues the real obstacles aren't technical — they're psychological. Loss aversion, survivorship bias, and misframed business cases have quietly killed more automation initiatives than any protocol gap ever did.
⚡ Lightning Talk
Standing Out in a Virtual World: Personal Branding for Engineers
Alexis Bertholf · Global Technical Evangelist — Megaport
How personal branding and platforms like LinkedIn can be used as practical leadership tools to surface emerging talent, build mentorship pathways, and attract the next generation to network engineering.
Network Operations Automation at DE-CIX
Lucas Immanuel Nickel · Network Operations Engineer — DE-CIX
Two production-ready delivery patterns from DE-CIX's NetOps team: a gNMIc config generation job driven from Zabbix and NetBox, and a geospatial network view web service — both shipping via GitOps pipeline in under 10 minutes.
Modernizing Workflows as Old as the Railways: Operationalizing Network Automation
Leo Fleskes · Network Automation Architect — DB Systel GmbH
Two years of data work came before any automation was possible at Deutsche Bahn — and that groundwork eventually enabled fully automated WAN workflows across 2,500+ routers. A VPN rollout that took 70 minutes across four teams now takes 25 across one.
Meeting Automation in the Middle: Why NetOps Automation Can't Wait
Tim Sando · Senior Network Engineer — Sony Interactive Entertainment (PlayStation)
One script checking backbone circuit state grew into a trusted set of operational tools at PlayStation. The argument for building ops-led automation now, designed to converge with future platform capabilities — rather than waiting for top-down programmes that rarely move fast enough.
Rethinking Network Monitoring
Christian Adell & David Flores · CoreWeave
What network monitoring needs to look like in 2026: diverse data sources, fully integrable into the automation loop, and architecturally scalable. Not better dashboards — an active participant in how your network operates.
NAF Network Automation Framework Update
Claudia de Luna · EIA / NAF Architecture Group
A standing update from the NAF Framework team: what's new, where it's been presented, and a live walkthrough of a use case using the NAF Solution Wizard.
Thursday, 11 June
Two parallel tracks run all day. Choose one session per slot. The parallel track hosts the NAF Framework in the morning, and the Leadership Track in the afternoon.
General Session
Parallel Track
▸ Morning
▸ NAF Framework Track
General Session
Lessons Learned Testing Network Automation Solutions
Ivan Pepelnjak · ipSpace.net
The testing procedures behind netlab — from CI/CD pipelines to pre-release integration tests — plus hard lessons: testing distributed systems is harder than it looks, takes longer than you planned, and vendor implementations will surprise you.
NAF Framework
NAF Framework — Deep Dive (Parts 1 & 2)
Christian Adell & Damien Garros · CoreWeave / NAF
A two-part deep dive into the NAF Network Automation Map — how to use the reference architecture to build vendor-agnostic solutions with clear scope boundaries that you own and can evolve.
General Session
Where Is My Network Model? When Network Engineering Fused Software Development
Antonio Óscar Balmaseda Blanco & David Cornejo · Roche Farma
How Roche broke the "perfect data model" paralysis using Scrum of Scrums methodology, adopted Nautobot, and built a custom ETL pipeline to migrate years of network data — iteratively, in working increments.
NAF Framework
NAF Framework Use Case #1
Claudia de Luna · EIA / NAF Architecture Group
A concrete worked example of the NAF Framework applied to a real problem, showing how the reference architecture translates from concept to practical solution.
General Session
Reaching Fully Automated Backbone Networks: A Network Developer's Journey
Eugen Serban & Bartek Bacal · Swisscom
10,000 devices running SRv6, orchestrated by NSO with zero manual intervention, serving 100,000+ service instances — and a candid look at what the four-year journey actually looked like versus what the architectural PowerPoints promised.
NAF Framework
Plan First: Applying the NAF Framework to Real Projects
Christian Drefke · Bechtle
First-hand experience blending the NAF Framework with software architecture frameworks like arc42 — from high-level design through to implementation on real automation projects.
General Session
Choose Your Own AI Adventure: A Guide to the LLM Landscape for Networking
Eric Chou · Network to Code
A practical map of the current AI landscape for network engineers: when to use OpenAI versus local models, how to build a Network Co-Pilot with LangChain and Streamlit, and how to keep sensitive config data off the public cloud.
NAF Framework
Resources & Feedback — Then off to the BoF
Wim Henderickx · NAF Architecture Group
Closing the morning framework track: resources, Q&A, and transition to the Birds of a Feather session.
▸ Afternoon
▸ Leadership Track
General Session (continued)
Leadership Track
General Session
Succeed with Test-Driven Automation
Juulia Santala · Cisco
Three validation layers — configuration, functional, and SLA — with practical pytest and pyATS examples structured so any network engineer can start writing meaningful automated tests from day one.
Leadership
Practical Network Reliability Engineering
John Howard · Head of Network Infrastructure — Proton AG
How NRE has enhanced Proton's network team over four years — shifting focus from individual device health to the services and capabilities end users depend on, reducing alert fatigue and service sprawl.
General Session
How Workflow-Driven Automation Becomes Operable Under Air Gap & Compliance Constraints
Henry Ölsner — NTT Germany & Christian Miene — 50Hertz
A case study building sustainable automation for a German critical infrastructure operator where always-on connectivity is not a given — including the Workflow Definition Document as a formal, auditable contract.
Leadership
"A Computer Must Never Make a Management Decision." Can We Let AI Run Our Infrastructure?
Marc Stadtherr · Kumorai Inc.
The industry can change infrastructure faster than it can explain, govern, or secure it — and is now handing that environment to AI. The missing piece isn't another tool; it's a governing model of what infrastructure actually is.
General Session
Ten Years of Network Automation at LINX
Riccardo Verzeni · Director of Software Engineering — LINX
LINX went from no automation to fully automated end-to-end service provisioning — step by step, over a decade. The argument for incremental over big-bang, grounded in what actually survived contact with production.
Leadership
Demos, Docs, and Dialogue: How I Got Buy-In for Ansible Automation
Joseph Nicholson · Network Operations Engineer — NTT DATA
What it took to deploy Ansible router upgrades in a live NOC — shift-specific demos, transparent documentation, and ride-along pilots that turned resistant technicians into enthusiastic adopters.
General Session
Automation at Scale Across Domains: DC, Campus, and WAN
Christian Breunig · Network Architect — Rohde & Schwarz
From zero to 500+ devices under unified Git/Ansible/GitLab CI automation spanning data center, campus, and WAN — what it feels like to stop chasing the network and start conducting it.
Leadership
The ROI of Network Autonomy: Building the Business Case for Agentic Tool-Chaining
Justin Ryburn · Field CTO — Kentik
A technically successful self-healing network nearly died because no one translated it into business language — and six months of re-engineering the story, not the code, is what finally got it funded.
Friday, 12 June
▲ Closing Keynote
How NetOps Can Embrace AI to Lead Enterprise Innovation
Chris Wade · CTO — Itential
Real-world AI initiatives in network operations — architectures, spec files, agents, and what it takes to apply software engineering discipline to a technology where everyone, everywhere, is learning simultaneously.
From Data to Decisions: Real-Time Network Context
Víctor Fernández · Senior Network & Systems Architect — Colt Technology Services
A real-time platform unifying configs, telemetry, BGP data, service relationships, and events into a single live model — enabling smarter automation, faster troubleshooting, and the shift from reactive to proactive operations.
Network Automation Graveyard: Field-Tested Anti-Patterns to Kill Your Project
Constantin Vurli · Network Automation Engineer — CNS Communications
Five years of consulting has surfaced three recurring failure modes: automation islands that never connect, tool-first thinking that picks the wrong stack, and dead ends from following the path of least resistance past the point of no return.
Lightning Talks
The Bottleneck Was Always Human: AI-Assisted Catalog Modeling for Multi-Vendor Networks
Nikolina Grahovac · Engineering Lead — Codaxy
Paradigms of Trust: Architecting Network Automation with Software Engineering Principles
Leandro Lerena · Software Architect — zebbra AG
Automating Firewall Rule Deployment in a Highly Regulated Environment
João Soares · Lead Network Automation Engineer — Ørsted
GitOps the Hard Way: Rebuilding a Source of Truth for an EVPN Fabric (Three Times)
Radim Roška · Network Architect — ALTEPRO solutions
Migrating the GÉANT Network to a New Vendor Using WFO and Ansible
Simone Spinelli & Saba Khosroabadi · GÉANT
Thank You
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