Enterprise networks carry decades of legacy gear, dozens of OS variants, and change processes that can take a hundred signatures to approve. AI promises to take network operations further, but how much control are enterprises ready to hand over?

In this episode of Built for Trust, Nick Lippis talks with Alex Henthorn-Iwane of Gluware about the evolution of network automation and the road to autonomous infrastructure.

They explore why AI adoption is moving faster in observability than in network change management and why brownfield environments make automation so much harder. Nick and Alex also debate whether AI can check its own work, and land on why independent validation rooted in the live network matters as AI takes on a bigger operational role.

Alex shares how AI can help teams cut through the flood of vulnerabilities, prioritize what truly requires action, and build the automation foundation that makes autonomy possible. Plus why there's no FSD for a 2002 Corolla, and what enterprise networks need to change before AI can truly take the wheel.

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This episode is part of a seven-part sponsored series with Cisco focused on the technologies defining the next era of enterprise networking, with new episodes released each month.

Open networking promised choice. Running it was another story.

Tom Gillis, Chief Technology Officer at Cisco, and Murali Gandluru, who leads Cisco’s data center networking business, join Nick Lippis to tackle a question debated across the ONUG community. Where does SONiC fit in the enterprise, and how can teams run different network operating systems side by side without adding operational overhead?

Tom explains why Cisco remains committed to SONiC alongside NX-OS and ACI. Murali describes how Cisco’s Nexus One architecture brings them under a common management framework on shared hardware. The two discuss why network teams need to move beyond configuring individual switches through the CLI and toward more automated operations.

They also examine what hybrid AI means when a single workload uses both cloud-based and on-premises models for reasons of cost, security, and sovereignty. In a demonstration, Murali shows how Cisco extends visibility and policy to Kubernetes workloads and helps network and platform teams investigate a performance issue together, with a person approving the fix.

The conversation closes with practical advice for infrastructure leaders on adopting a cloud operating model and keeping software current.

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Quantum computing has moved beyond theoretical possibility. The next challenge is turning that progress into applications that create real enterprise value.

In this episode of the Built for Trust Podcast, Nick Lippis speaks with Sumit Kapur, CEO of Zapata Quantum, about the shift from proving quantum advantage to delivering quantum utility. They explore how hardware-agnostic software can help close the gap between quantum computing’s potential and the business problems enterprises need to solve.

Nick and Sumit discuss emerging applications across drug discovery, materials science, optimization, simulation and finance, including quantum-enabled research into potential treatments for a cancer-causing mutation. They also examine how CIOs can prepare for both sides of quantum: protecting their organizations from new security threats while identifying opportunities to create value.

As quantum hardware and algorithms continue to advance, one-off proofs of concept will not be enough. Organizations need to start building the knowledge, use-case portfolios and institutional capabilities that will allow them to move when quantum becomes commercially viable.

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AI agents can move at machine speed, but speed without trusted data, structured workflows and clear controls creates risk.

In this episode of the Built for Trust Podcast, Nick Lippis speaks with Damien Garros, Co-founder and CEO of OpsMill, about the shift from human-driven infrastructure as code to autonomous operations. They explore why version control, reliable sources of truth and established workflows are essential before AI agents can safely make changes to production networks.

Damien also explains how Infrahub combines version control with the ability to manage large volumes of infrastructure data, giving organizations a foundation they can build on without developing every component themselves. Nick and Damien discuss how agents can prepare and execute changes through established workflows while human oversight evolves as trust grows.

As operations move from copilots toward greater autonomy, trust must be built into the data, platforms and processes guiding every action.

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AI agents are accelerating application development, but the infrastructure and security teams supporting them are struggling to keep pace.

In this episode of Built for Trust, Nick Lippis sits down with Erez Tadmor, Field CTO at Tufin, to explore what happens when agents begin requesting access, changing workflows, and interacting with critical infrastructure at machine speed.

They discuss why traditional approvals and periodic audits will no longer be enough, how segmentation can limit an agent’s blast radius before an incident occurs, and why trust must be continuously verified based on what each agent can actually access. Erez also explains how infrastructure teams can establish the guardrails agents need to operate safely without becoming a bottleneck to innovation.

The conversation looks ahead to a world where AI manages AI, compliance becomes continuous, and humans move from being in the loop to overseeing it.

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As AI drives cyberattacks to machine speed, traditional Security Operations Centers can no longer rely on human response alone.

In this episode of Built for Trust, Nick Lippis and Peter Campbell, Security Researcher & Agentic AI Working Groups Lead at ONUG, unpack ONUG's AI-Enabled SOC Working Group, one of the highest-voted initiatives from the ONUG board. Together, they explore how organizations can safely adopt autonomous AI while maintaining governance, trust, and human oversight.

Nick and Peter walk through the group's reference architecture, covering AI agent personas, levels of autonomy, and the decisions that should remain in human hands. They also discuss distributed versus orchestrated agent architectures and why preserving forensic evidence is just as important as responding at machine speed.

Whether you're modernizing your SOC or preparing for agentic security operations, this episode offers a practical framework for building AI-enabled security without sacrificing trust, compliance, or control.

Want to help shape this framework? ONUG is looking for practitioners and vendors to help refine the reference architecture ahead of the AI Networking Summit in New York City on October 28–29. Learn more and get involved: https://hubs.li/Q04tVnZr0

New episodes of the Built for Trust Podcast come out every Thursday. Subscribe to get notified.

In this episode of Built for Trust, Nick Lippis and Peter Campbell, ONUG’s Security Researcher & Agentic AI Working Groups Lead, take an inside look at ONUG Collaborative’s Autonomous Infrastructure Working Group and its emerging reference architecture for AI-assisted network operations.

Nick and Peter explore how organizations can prepare the NOC for increasing levels of AI autonomy, starting with defining agent personas, permissions, and levels of autonomy before AI is allowed to interact with production infrastructure.

They walk through the Agentic Operations Loop and the controls needed to safely introduce AI into network operations, including human oversight, policy enforcement, auditability, and rollback. They also discuss why a hybrid human-AI model may be the most practical path toward autonomous infrastructure today.

Built and vetted by enterprise practitioners, the reference architecture provides a framework for advancing AI-assisted network operations while maintaining the controls needed to operate safely and responsibly.

Learn more about the ONUG Collaborative AI Networking & Autonomous Infrastructure Working Group and discover how vendors and enterprise practitioners can get involved: https://hubs.li/Q04t85s40

New episodes of the Built for Trust Podcast come out every Thursday. Subscribe to get notified.

In this episode of Built for Trust, Nick Lippis and Peter Campbell, Security Researcher & Agentic AI Working Groups Lead at ONUG, provide an inside look at ONUG Collaborative's newly launched Working Groups and the practitioner-led process behind them. They explain how the ONUG Board identified and prioritized the industry's most pressing AI challenges, and why the Agentic Control Plane received the strongest support from enterprise IT leaders.

Nick and Peter walk through the evolving reference architecture, covering the agent trust fabric, personas, runtime supervision, private open routing, AI FinOps, and the shared control plane that enables AI coordination across networking, security, and the broader enterprise. They also discuss the governance, operational, and cultural changes organizations will need as AI systems become increasingly autonomous.

Built by enterprise practitioners for enterprise practitioners, these frameworks are designed to help organizations deploy AI agents securely, govern them at scale, and prepare for the next generation of AI-native infrastructure.

Learn more about the ONUG Collaborative Working Groups and discover how vendors and enterprise practitioners can get involved ahead of the AI Networking Summit in New York City on October 28–29: https://hubs.li/Q04sRfn-0

New episodes of the Built for Trust Podcast come out every Thursday. Subscribe to get notified.