The only conference that dares to keep asking:
Why haven’t we seen full adoption of network automation, yet?
AutoCon 5 was held in
Munich, DE the week of 8 - 12 June 2026
Thanks to everyone who made AC5 the biggest and best European event so far!
EVENT PHOTOS
Agenda
8-9 June (Monday & Tuesday) — Workshops
Monday, 8 June (9:00-18:00); Hands-on workshops, details below. Lunch will be served. There will be a happy hour from 18:00-19:00.
Tuesday, 9 June (9:00-18:00); Hands-on workshops, details below. Lunch will be served.
* Note: Workshop participation is separate from conference registration and requires a ticket.
10-12 June (Wednesday-Friday) — Conference
Wednesday, 10 June; the conference will start at 13:00 local time. There will be lunch from 11:30 to 13:00 and a happy hour from 17:45 to 19:45.
Thursday, 11 June; the conference will run all day. Lunch will be served.
Friday, 12 June; the conference will end just after noon local time.
* Full speaker list and conference program is available below.
Speakers
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Opening Keynote
Michael Bushong
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Closing Keynote
Chris Wade
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Alexis Bertholf
“Standing out in a Virtual World - Personal Branding for Engineers”
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Antonio Óscar Balmaseda Blanco
“Where is my network model? When Network Engineering fused Software development”
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Bartek Bacal
“Reaching fully automated backbone networks, a Network Developer's journey”
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Christian Adell
“Rethinking Network Monitoring”
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Christian Breunig
“Automation at scale across domains (DC/Campus/WAN)”
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Christian Drefke
“Plan first - Applying the NAF Framework to real life projects”
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Christian Miene
“How Workflow Driven Automation Becomes Operable Under Air Gap and Compliance Constraints”
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Claudia de Luna
“NAF Framework Update”
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Constantin VURLI
“Network automation graveyard: field-tested anti-patterns to kill your project.”
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Damien Garros
“NAF Framework - Deep Dive”
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David Cornejo
”Where is my network model? When Network Engineering fused Software development”
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David Flores
“Rethinking Network Monitoring”
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Eric Chou
“Choose Your Own AI Adventure: A Guide to the LLM Landscape for Networking”
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Eugen Serban
“Reaching fully automated backbone networks, a Network Developer's journey”
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Gerasimos Tzakis
“Modernizing Workflows as old as the Railways: Operationalizing Network Automation”
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Henry Ölsner
“How Workflow Driven Automation Becomes Operable Under Air Gap and Compliance Constraints”
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Ivan Pepelnjak
“Lessons Learned Testing Network Automation Solutions”
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João Soares
“Automating firewall rule deployment in a highly regulated environment”
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John Howard
“Practical Network Reliability Engineering”
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Joseph Nicholson
“Demos, Docs, and Dialogue: How I Got Buy-In for Ansible Automation”
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Justin Ryburn
“The ROI of Network Autonomy: Building the Business Case for Agentic Tool-Chaining”
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Juulia Santala
“Succeed with test-driven automation - practical examples using Python and your network’s APIs”
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Leandro Lerena
“Paradigms of Trust: Architecting Network Automation with Software Engineering Principles”
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Leo Fleskes
“Modernizing Workflows as old as the Railways: Operationalizing Network Automation”
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Lucas Immanuel Nickel
“Network Operations Automation at DE-CIX”
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Marc Stadtherr
““A Computer Must Never Make a Management Decision.” Can We Let AI Run Our Infrastructure?”
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Nikolina Grahovac
“The Bottleneck Was Always Human: AI-Assisted Catalog Modeling for Multi-Vendor Networks”
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Radim Roška
“GitOps the Hard Way: Rebuilding a Source of Truth for an EVPN Fabric (Three Times)”
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Riccardo Verzeni
“Ten Years of Network Automation at LINX”
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Simone Spinelli
“Migrating the GÉANT Network to a new vendor using WFO and Ansible”
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Tim Sando
“Meeting Automation in the Middle: Why NetOps Automation Can’t Wait”
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Víctor Fernández
“From Data to Decisions: Real‑Time Network Context”
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Wim Henderickx
“NAF Framework Resources and Feedback”
Conference Program
We’ve expanded the AC5 Program with two half-day tracks on Thursday: NAF Framework and Leadership
Wednesday and Friday (10 & 12 June) will both have a single track in a single room; just like previous AutoCons.
New for AutoCon 5: Thursday's (11 June’s) talks will be split across two rooms (this doubles the number of talks available while also providing a couple deeper focus areas - it also requires you to choose which talks to participate in that day, and honestly, we hope it’s a hard choice).
The "General Session" will go all day, just like previous AutoCons, with content focused on real-world success stories.
During Thursday morning we will have an additional track focused on the community created NAF Framework.
On Thursday afternoon the additional track will be focused on Leadership and business/management topics with ideas for how to get the funding and build the teams needed for network automation success.
This format worked out great for AutoCon 4 in the US, and so we’re bringing it to Europe! Scott wrote a bit more about this a while back on our blog as well.
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08:00 - 16:00 — Registration open; networking begins!
11:30 - 13:00 — LUNCH (Provided On-Site)
13:00 - 13:05 — Conference Opening and Introduction
13:05 - 13:15 — Welcome Message from Host Sponsor <<your name here>>
13:15 – 14:00 — Opening Keynote : Michael Bushong - The Cognitive Biases Impacting Network Automation
14:00 - 14:10 — Alexis Bertholf - Standing out in a Virtual World: Personal Branding for Engineers
14:10 - 14:40 — Lucas Immanuel Nickel - Network Operations Automation at DE-CIX
14:40 - 14:50 — Message from Accelerating Sponsor NetBrain
14:50 - 15:35 — BREAK (With snacks & drinks)
15:35 - 16:05 — Leo Fleskes & Gerasimos Tzakis - Modernizing Workflows as old as the Railways
16:05 - 16:35 — Tim Sando - Meeting Automation in the Middle: Why NetOps Automation Can’t Wait
16:35 - 16:45 — Message from Accelerating Sponsor <<your name here>>
16:45 - 17:15 — Christian Adell & David Flores - Rethinking Network Monitoring
17:15 - 17:35 — Claudia de Luna - NAF Framework Update
17:35 - 17:45 — Day One Closing Remarks
17:45 - 19:45 — HAPPY HOUR (Compliments of NAF)
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8:00 - 14:00 — Registration and check-in open
9:00 - 9:10 — Day Two Opening Remarks
9:10 - 9:45 — Ivan Pepelnjak - Lessons Learned Testing Network Automation Solutions
9:45 - 10:20 — Antonio Óscar Balmaseda Blanco & David Cornejo - Where is my network model?
10:20 - 11:05 — AM BREAK (With snacks & drinks)
11:05 - 11:40 — Eugen Serban & Bartek Bacal - Reaching fully automated backbone networks
11:40 - 12:15 — Eric Chou - Choose Your Own AI Adventure: A Guide to the LLM Landscape for Networking
12:15 - 13:45 — LUNCH (Provided On-Site)
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8:00 - 15:00 — Registration and check-in open
9:00 - 9:10 — NAF Framework Track Opening Remarks
9:10 - 10:20 — Christian Adell & Damien Garros - NAF Framework: Deep Dive
10:35 - 11:05 — AM BREAK (With snacks & drinks)
11:05 - 11:35 — Claudia de Luna - NAF Framework Use Case #1
11:35 - 12:05 — Christian Drefke - Plan first: Applying the NAF Framework to real life projects
12:05 - 12:15 — Wim Henderickx - NAF Framework Resources and Feedback
12:35 - 13:45 — LUNCH (Provided On-Site)
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12:15 - 13:45 — LUNCH (Provided On-Site)
13:45 - 14:20 — Juulia Santala - Succeed with test-driven automation - practical examples
14:20 - 14:55 — Henry Ölsner & Christian Miene - Workflow Driven Automation Under Air Gap Compliance
14:55 - 15:40 — PM BREAK (With snacks & drinks)
15:40 - 16:15 — Riccardo Verzeni - Ten Years of Network Automation at LINX
16:15 - 16:50 — Christian Breunig - Automation at scale across domains (DC/Campus/WAN)
16:50 - 17:00 — Day Two Closing Remarks
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12:15 - 13:45 — LUNCH (Provided On-Site)
13:45 - 13:50 — Leadership Track Opening Remarks
13:45 - 14:20 — John Howard - Practical Network Reliability Engineering
14:20 - 14:55 — Marc Stadtherr - Can We Let AI Run Our Infrastructure?
14:55 - 15:40 — PM BREAK (With snacks & drinks)
15:40 - 16:15 — Joseph Nicholson - Demos, Docs, and Dialogue: How I Got Buy-In for Ansible Automation
16:15 - 16:50 — Justin Ryburn - Building the Business Case for Agentic Tool-Chaining
16:50 - 17:00 — Day Two Closing Remarks
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9:00 - 9:10 — Day Three Opening Remarks
9:10 - 9:55 — Closing Keynote:Chris Wade - How NetOps can embrace AI to lead innovation
9:55 - 10:25 — Víctor Fernández - From Data to Decisions: Real‑Time Network Context
10:35 - 11:10 — BREAK (With snacks & drinks)
11:10 - 11:40 — Constantin VURLI - Network automation graveyard: field-tested anti-patterns
11:40 - 12:30 — Lightning Talks!
+ Speaker 1 - Nikolina Grahovac - AI-Assisted Catalog Modeling for Multi-Vendor Networks
+ Speaker 2 - Leandro Lerena - Architecting Network Automation with Software Engineering Principles
+ Speaker 3 - João Soares - Automating firewall rule deployment in a highly regulated environment
+ Speaker 4 - Radim Roška - GitOps the Hard Way: Rebuilding a Source of Truth (Three Times)
+ Speaker 5 - Simone Spinelli - Migrating the GÉANT Network to a new vendor
12:30 - 12:42 — Conference Closing Ceremony
Workshop Details
Practical network automation training to help kick-start your network automation journey!
There are multiple workshop tracks available. Attendees are able to select the four specific workshops they want to attend, one from each time block - ”choose your own adventure” style.
We have workshops covering: SoT, Observability, AI Agents, MCP, RAG, Python, PyTest, CI/CD, Nornir, NAPALM, Jinja2, YANG, gRPC, digital twin, network automation fundamentals, and more. Sessions are filled on a first-come, first-served basis at the time of ticket purchase (you MUST make selections at time of purchase). See course schedule and workshop details below!
DATES: Monday and Tuesday, 8-9, June 2026
All workshops require that you bring your own laptop with an SSH client. Some workshops may have additional requirements - your proctors will have more information.
Workshops will run from 09:00 to 18:00 local time (CET / GMT+1) both days. Lunch, as well as morning and afternoon coffee breaks with snacks, will be provided for all attendees. Conference ticket sold separately.
AutoCon 5 Workshop adventure
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WS:A1 - Python and Data Basics
Proctors: Rick Donato, Gary Woodard
Presenting Organization: Packet Coders
Networking Level: Beginner
Systems/Linux Level: Beginner
Programming Level: Beginner
Description: Hands-on introduction to Python fundamentals for network automation — data types, control flow, functions, and object basics. Attendees also work with structured data formats YAML and JSON as the foundation for representing network configurations and intent in automation workflows.WS:A2 - SOLD OUT
Title - From RAG to MCP: New Tools for a New Era in Network Operations
Proctors: John Capobianco, William Collins, Joksan Flores
Presenting Organization: Itential
Networking Level: Beginner
Systems/Linux Level: Beginner
Programming Level: Beginner
Description: Mix of lecture and hands-on labs covering Retrieval-Augmented Generation and the Model Context Protocol, with real networking use cases. Attendees build three AI agents using the DevNet Sandbox to query live routers, gaining practical experience applying both technologies to operational network problems.WS:A3 - SOLD OUT
Title: From Zero to Hero with Model Driven Programmability
Proctors: Francois Caen, Juulia Santala, Ralph Schmieder
Presenting Organization: Cisco
Networking Level: Intermediate
Systems/Linux Level: Beginner
Programming Level: Intermediate
Description: Hands-on lab covering Python automation from fundamentals through advanced workflows. Attendees use Netmiko and ncclient for NETCONF, YANG Suite for payload generation, and pyATS for automated testing. Advanced tracks include Jinja2 templating and GitLab CI pipelines.WS:A4 - Better Labs with Codespaces on GitHub and Private Infra
Proctors: Carl Buchmann, Mitch Vaughan, Petr Ankudinov
Presenting Organization: Arista Networks
Networking Level: Beginner
Systems/Linux Level: Advanced
Programming Level: Beginner
Description: Participants build one-click lab environments using GitHub Codespaces, then replicate that experience on any Linux host with open-source tools. Covers devcontainer spec, GitHub Actions, and code-server through real-world use cases including AVD playground and interactive PR review labs. Requires container and GitHub familiarity. -
WS:B1 - Config Management with Git, Nornir, NAPALM & Jinja2
Proctors: Rick Donato, Gary Woodard
Presenting Organization: Packet Coders
Networking Level: Beginner
Systems/Linux Level: Beginner
Programming Level: Intermediate
Description: Building on the structured data foundations from Session 1, attendees generate device configurations from YAML using Jinja2 templates and deploy them at scale using Nornir and NAPALM. Covers the full config automation workflow from data modeling through template rendering to multi-device deployment.WS:B2 - SOLD OUT
Title - AI for the Networking Curious: A Hands-On Kitchen for AI Recipes
Proctors: Eric Chou
Presenting Organization: Network to Code
Networking Level: Intermediate
Systems/Linux Level: Intermediate
Programming Level: Intermediate
Description: Four-hour hands-on lab working through practical AI integration for network operations. Attendees set up local LLMs via Ollama, apply prompt engineering for MOP generation, build a Network Co-Pilot using LangChain for config analysis, then wrap the solution in a Streamlit web UI for team-wide deployment.WS:B3 - Building a Network Source of Truth — From Architecture to Practice
Proctors: Alex Gittings, Damien Garros, Pete Crocker
Presenting Organization: Opsmill
Networking Level: Intermediate
Systems/Linux Level: Beginner
Programming Level: Intermediate
Description: Hands-on lab using Infrahub, a graph-database-backed SoT platform. Attendees model schemas in YAML, query and mutate data via GraphQL and the Python SDK, enforce validation constraints, manage changes via Git-like branching, and render device configurations with Jinja2 Transforms. Mapped to the NAF Reference Framework.WS:B4 - "It Works on My Machine" — (Py)Test your Automation
Proctors: Urs Baumann, Steinn Orvar Bjarnarson, Bart Dorlandt
Presenting Organization: NAF Community
Networking Level: Beginner
Systems/Linux Level: Beginner
Programming Level: Intermediate
Description: Introduces PyTest for network automation, focused on testing business logic without live devices. Attendees design testable automation code, mock device drivers and third-party APIs, and simulate failure scenarios including timeouts and partial config pushes. Covers fixtures, parametrization, and integration with CI/CD pipelines. -
WS:C1 - Testing and Validation with Pytest and APIs
Proctors: Rick Donato, Gary Woodard
Presenting Organization: Packet Coders
Networking Level: Beginner
Systems/Linux Level: Intermediate
Programming Level: Intermediate
Description: Validation-focused session building on the series' automation stack. Attendees implement Pytest-based testing against device APIs, validating both intended configurations and live device state. Covers test design for network automation workflows, ensuring changes behave as expected before and after deployment.WS:C2 - SOLD OUT
Title - From Alert to Action: Building a 5-Agent AI System That Cuts MTTR
Proctors: Eduard Dulharu
Presenting Organization: vExpertAI
Networking Level: Intermediate
Systems/Linux Level: Intermediate
Programming Level: Intermediate
Description: Attendees operate a five-agent AI system against a live multi-vendor EVE-NG topology, inject real faults, and trace full agent reasoning chains. Built on A2A protocol, Neo4j knowledge graph, and LangChain RAG, participants extend the system by wiring a custom specialist agent using provided scaffolding.WS:C3 - SOLD OUT
Title: Self-Healing Networks: Managing Drift with NetBox and EDA
Proctors: Mark Coleman, Richard Boucher, Rich Bibby
Presenting Organization: NetBox Labs
Networking Level: Beginner
Systems/Linux Level: Beginner
Programming Level: Beginner
Description: Attendees build a closed-loop automation stack: configure NetBox as source of truth, deploy device configs via Event-Driven Ansible, collect telemetry to detect configuration drift, and trigger automatic remediation. Real tools in a simulated lab environment, accessible to engineers new to automation or to NetBox.WS:C4 - SOLD OUT
Title: Modern Network Observability: Foundations, Automation, and AI
Proctors: David Flores, Christian Adell
Presenting Organization: CoreWeave
Networking Level: Beginner
Systems/Linux Level: Intermediate
Programming Level: Intermediate
Description: Reframes monitoring as modern observability using Telegraf, Prometheus, and Grafana. Attendees normalize telemetry, write PromQL and LogQL queries, design intent-aware alerts, build observability-driven automation workflows, and explore AI-assisted root cause analysis — grounded in what is practical in production today. -
WS:D1 - Building CI/CD Workflows with GitHub Actions
Proctors: Rick Donato, Gary Woodard
Presenting Organization: Packet Coders
Networking Level: Intermediate
Systems/Linux Level: Intermediate
Programming Level: Intermediate
Description: Integrates the series' automation, configuration management, and testing into a GitHub Actions CI pipeline. Attendees automate validation workflows for safe, team-based network operations, adding production-grade quality controls: linting with Astral Ruff, JSON Schema validation, and security scanning with Bandit.WS:D2 - Stop "Jamming" with Your Network: From Vibe Coding to Spec-Driven Dev
Proctors: Hector Isaza
Presenting Organization: Networkingdev
Networking Level: Intermediate
Systems/Linux Level: Beginner
Programming Level: Intermediate
Description: Addresses the "vibe coding" trap with Spec-Driven Development. Attendees use openspec to define a formal spec for SNMP compliance, then leverage VS Code with Copilot to generate reconciliation logic that compares NetBox desired state against Git-tracked observed state and executes safe device remediation.WS:D3 - From CLI to Network Intelligence: Digital Twin for AI-Augmented Ops
Proctors: Daren Fulwell, Seb D'Argoeuves
Presenting Organization: IP Fabric
Networking Level: Intermediate
Systems/Linux Level: Beginner
Programming Level: Beginner
Description: Three progressive modes using IP Fabric as a network digital twin: UI exploration for path analysis and design validation, API scripting in Jupyter for repeatable programmatic queries, and MCP-augmented natural language reasoning for anomaly detection and change analysis. All infrastructure is cloud-hosted; no local install required.WS:D4 - SOLD OUT
Title: Mastering gRPC for Network Automation
Proctors: Reda Laichi
Presenting Organization: Nokia
Networking Level: Not specified
Systems/Linux Level: Not specified
Programming Level: Not specified
Description: Draws on a real operator journey to show why CLI and SNMP-based automation breaks at scale, and how gRPC services fixed it. Covers gNMI for telemetry and configuration, gNOI for operations, gNSI for security, and gRIBI for traffic control — replacing fragile scripts with predictable, API-driven automation.
Venue
AutoCon 5 was held in Munich, Germany
Conference Hotel
The conference was held at:
The Westin Grand Munich
Arabellastrasse 6
Munich, Germany, 81925
sponsors
Accelerating Sponsor
Sustaining Sponsors
Supporting Sponsors
Friends of NAF
Official Media Partner
Official Training Partner
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