NetBrain LIVE 2025 brought together customers, partners, engineers, and practitioners in Boston for several days of discussion around the future of network operations.

Events like this are valuable not just for product updates, but for the conversations they create around how network teams are evolving their operational practices. As networks continue to grow in scale and complexity, the way teams diagnose issues, automate workflows, and reduce downtime is rapidly changing.

For me, the event was also an opportunity to connect with the broader NetBrain community, conduct interviews with customers and partners, and participate in discussions around automation and operational intelligence.

The Evolution of Network Operations

A major theme throughout the conference was the ongoing evolution of network operations.

As networks become more complex, operations are evolving from monitoring infrastructure toward enabling intelligent automation and operational insight.

This shift is being driven by several realities many network teams now face:

• Increasing network scale and complexity
• Faster application delivery expectations
• Growing pressure to reduce downtime and mean time to repair (MTTR)

These operational pressures are pushing teams to adopt new approaches that combine automation, operational visibility, and intelligent workflows.

LP’s Keynote and the MTTR Conversation

One of the most memorable moments of the event came during the keynote delivered by NetBrain founder Lingping Gao (LP).

In his presentation, LP discussed a concept he initially referred to as Gao’s Law, exploring the idea that organizations should be able to reduce Mean Time To Repair (MTTR) by roughly 50% year over year through automation, operational intelligence, and improved diagnostic workflows.

The idea resonated with many attendees because it framed a simple but powerful challenge for operations teams:

If downtime is costly and disruptive, how can we systematically reduce the time required to diagnose and resolve network issues?

This theme ties directly into the work many teams are doing to move beyond traditional monitoring tools toward automated diagnostics and operational workflows.

For those interested in exploring this concept further, I also wrote about LP’s ideas in a related blog discussing how organizations can work toward cutting downtime year over year through improved operational practices.

>>Dive Deeper on LP’s theory

Platform Evolution and Product Demonstrations

While the conference did not introduce a major new platform version, the sessions and demonstrations highlighted the continued evolution of the NetBrain platform across recent releases.

Many of the demonstrations focused on improvements introduced throughout versions 12 and 12.1, along with previews of new capabilities currently under development.

These demonstrations emphasized how network teams can use automation and operational intelligence to:

• accelerate troubleshooting
• reduce diagnostic time
• automate common operational workflows
• improve visibility across complex environments

Conversations with Customers and Partners

One of my goals during the event was to capture insights directly from customers and partners who are working with NetBrain in real-world environments.

Throughout the conference I had the opportunity to speak with and interview representatives from several organizations, including:

• CDW
• GDT
• WWT
• Ginkgo

These discussions focused on how partners are helping customers adopt more automated approaches to network operations and how NetBrain is being used in practice to accelerate troubleshooting and operational workflows.

I also had the opportunity to sit down for longer discussions with partners including Bret from WWT and Tim Colby from Ginkgo.

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On the Wire: Conversations from the Conference

During the event we also recorded several interviews for On the Wire, a NetBrain conversation series focused on practitioner discussions.

The format included both:

• sit-down interviews
• hallway conversations with attendees throughout the event

These discussions allowed us to capture real perspectives from engineers, partners, and customers about the challenges they face in network operations and the tools they rely on to solve them.

Some of the shorter hallway conversations were recorded for potential social media content, while the longer interviews provided deeper insights into how teams are approaching automation and operational troubleshooting today.

Partner Day and Security Conversations

The conference also included a Partner Day session, where NetBrain partners gathered to discuss how they are helping customers adopt automation-driven network operations.

During this session I had the opportunity to present on NetBrain’s role in supporting security operations, discussing how automation and network intelligence can help security and network teams work together when diagnosing incidents and responding to operational issues.

Community and Networking

Beyond the sessions and demonstrations, one of the highlights of the event was the opportunity to spend time with customers, partners, and colleagues outside the conference rooms.

The conference kicked off with a dinner cruise around Boston Harbor, giving attendees the chance to relax, connect, and continue conversations that had started earlier in the day.

As is often the case at industry events, some of the most valuable discussions happen during these informal moments. Several conversations that began during the cruise carried into the following days of the conference and led to deeper discussions about operational challenges and automation strategies.

Looking Ahead

NetBrain LIVE continues to provide a valuable opportunity for the community to come together and discuss how network operations are evolving.

As automation, operational intelligence, and AI-assisted workflows continue to advance, the conversations happening at events like this help shape how organizations approach the challenges of managing modern networks.

For me, NetBrain LIVE 2025 was also a chance to engage directly with the people who are solving these problems every day — from customers and partners to engineers and practitioners across the NetBrain ecosystem.