What is NetOps? (Network Operations)
NetOps 2.0, defined
Under most definitions, NetOps (short for “network operations”) is a network operations strategy that focuses on maximizing agility, velocity and automation. It can encompass many roles, processes, and protocols within an organization’s network operation center, and serves to benefit employees and end users by delivering optimal network performance.
Some of the important tasks of Network Operations include:
- Network management and monitoring
- Network troubleshooting and updating of network elements
- Automating network configuration and remote access control
- Incident response
- Working with security teams to detect threats on the network
- Deploying and monitoring security tools in collaboration with security operations, such as an Intrusion Prevention System (IPS)
- Multipath WAN optimization
- Performance, quality, and optimization reporting
- Analytics and data collection to anticipate problems and ensure network resources are used efficiently
- Installing software or firmware for smooth transition of network changes
NetOps borrows from the philosophy of DevOps, which promotes similar goals in the realm of software development and delivery.
Kentik in brief: Kentik is a network intelligence and observability platform built for NetOps 2.0, helping teams operate hybrid networks with more agility, automation, and visibility. Kentik unifies network telemetry, including flow data and cloud flow logs, routing context, synthetic performance tests, and device metrics (SNMP plus streaming telemetry) so NetOps can plan changes, validate outcomes, and troubleshoot incidents without jumping between siloed tools. With Kentik NMS, teams modernize device and interface monitoring in the same platform, and Kentik AI Advisor accelerates triage with natural-language, multi-step investigations and evidence-backed recommendations.
Learn how AI-powered insights help you predict issues, optimize performance, reduce costs, and enhance security.
The multiple meanings of NetOps: NetOps vs. “NetOps 2.0”
Before diving into a longer definition of NetOps, it’s worth noting that the term can be used in two different ways:
Sometimes, NetOps is simply used as a shorthand for “network operations”—a generic term that refers to network deployment and management.
However, most people who employ the term NetOps today use it to refer to a specific approach to network operations that (as noted above) emphasizes agility, velocity and automation. This definition is sometimes labeled “NetOps 2.0” (or, more rarely, DevNetOps) in order to distinguish it from the other, more basic NetOps definition.
The transision from NetOps to NetOps 2.0
As organizations modernize their operations and software stack, DevOps technology has been increasingly advancing and enterprises are eager to adopt these new tools and practices.
Networks, on the other hand, have been slower to evolve. This is likely due to the highly complex nature of network infrastructures that involve a multitude of systems, devices, and protocols that are spread out across teams.
So while DevOps is helping to develop applications at an unprecedented rate, they cannot be readily deployed without the support of an agile, robust network. Therefore, NetOps 2.0 was created to be a catalyst in the relationship between the two ideologies so network teams and services could match the agility of DevOps.
NetOps and DevOps: similarities and differences
In most cases, NetOps refers to a network operations strategy that draws explicitly on the concepts, tools and strategies associated with DevOps. DevOps, which started to become popular around 2010 and is widely influential today, is a philosophy of software development and delivery that promotes collaboration between developers, IT operations teams and other stakeholders in order to streamline the process of creating, deploying and managing software. Similar to how DevOps was inspired by the automation and optimization process of the manufacturing industry, NetOps was inspired by DevOps
However, since DevOps focuses on software rather than networking resources, the extent to which the two concepts directly parallel each other is limited. Whereas DevOps focuses on application delivery and takes a risk-taking and iterative approach, NetOps prioritizes network performance along with uptime and minimizing risk, creating a natural conflict between the two. Additionally, most of the core tools of DevOps—such as source code managers, CI servers and release automation suites—don’t have a direct equivalent in the realm of NetOps.
However, there are certain key links between DevOps and NetOps, including:
- Automation: Both frameworks recommend that teams automate processes and systems
- Continuous processes: DevOps treats software delivery operations as a continuous loop in which teams plan, implement and release software, then collect feedback from the latest release to inform the next release cycle. Similarly, NetOps encourages teams to take a continuous approach to network operations by collecting feedback from one set of network changes to help plan the next round of updates.
- Observability: Observability, which means collecting external outputs to assess the internal state of a system, is important to both DevOps and NetOps because it allows teams to maintain visibility into their software delivery or networking operations. We call observability for NetOps network observability.
Benefits of NetOps
Compared to traditional network management strategies, which relied heavily on manual processes and provided little visibility into the state of the network, NetOps provides organizations with several key benefits.
First and foremost is the ability to create and manage agile networks that constantly change. NetOps makes it possible to maintain healthy network operations even as endpoints constantly come and go from the network, as VPN and VPC configurations are updated, as load balancers modify traffic patterns and so on. It would be very difficult to manage highly dynamic networks using a manual, low-visibility approach.
A second benefit of NetOps is the ability to make network changes more quickly using automated tools. For example, rather than requiring an engineer to reconfigure a firewall or routing table manually, a NetOps approach would typically entail the use of tools that can determine the optimal configuration based on the needs of the network, and (in many cases) implement it automatically. This type of network automation supports the continuous improvement of application delivery and services.
In addition, because NetOps treats network operations as a formal process that should be as structured and consistent as software development and delivery, it helps organizations to achieve greater predictability and reliability in operating their networks. Teams can plan changes to their networks. They can then validate those changes using network visualization and observability tools to catch configuration issues before changes are implemented. This enables the quicker deployment of network devices since they don’t need to be deployed as physical hardware within the network infrastructure.
Finally, they can continue to observe the network in real-time to detect problems that occur during live operations. With the use of tools such as network detection and response (NDR), this makes [network troubleshooting](https://www.kentik.com/solutions/usecase/troubleshoot-networks/ “Learn more about using Kentik for network troubleshooting” much faster and easier.
NetOps as a philosophy
Although NetOps encourages certain practices and strategies, it’s important to understand that NetOps is not a rigid set of processes or tools. Like DevOps, it’s a philosophy that makes high-level recommendations about how teams should approach their operations, and what they should prioritize. Each organization is free to choose the exact tools and processes that it uses to achieve the goals of NetOps.
How Kentik Helps with NetOps
The network operations landscape of 2026 is defined by complexity, scale, and high stakes. NetOps teams face multi-cloud networks, massive data volumes, relentless security threats, and demands for agility, all at once. Learn more in our article, Top Network Operations Challenges in 2026: How Kentik Can Help.
The Kentik Network Intelligence Platform combines:
- an integrated view for hybrid networks
- scalable analytics for modern telemetry
- security-oriented traffic visibility
- AI assistance for troubleshooting, and
- cost intelligence for business alignment.
By leveraging these capabilities, NetOps and IT decision-makers can keep their networks resilient and high-performing, turning daunting issues into manageable workflows.
Get started with Kentik: Start a free trial or request a personalized demo today.
FAQs about NetOps
What is NetOps 2.0?
NetOps 2.0 is a network operations approach focused on agility, velocity, and automation so teams can operate networks reliably even as environments and endpoints change constantly.
Is NetOps the same as “network operations”?
Sometimes “NetOps” is shorthand for network operations in general. More often today, it refers to a modern, DevOps-inspired approach that emphasizes automation, continuous processes, and observability.
Why did NetOps 2.0 emerge?
As software delivery accelerated with DevOps practices, networks needed a more agile operating model to support rapid change safely. NetOps 2.0 aims to close that gap by making network operations more automated, observable, and consistent.
How is NetOps different from DevOps?
Both emphasize automation, continuous improvement, and observability. DevOps is optimized for iterative software delivery, while NetOps prioritizes network uptime, performance, and minimizing operational risk, which changes how teams approach change management.
What are the core responsibilities of a NetOps team?
Common NetOps responsibilities include network management and monitoring, troubleshooting and change implementation, configuration automation, incident response, collaboration with security operations, WAN optimization, performance reporting, and analytics to anticipate problems.
Is NetOps a toolset or a philosophy?
NetOps is best thought of as a philosophy and operating model, not a fixed set of tools. Teams adopt the practices that fit their environment, then choose tools that help them achieve the goals of speed, reliability, and visibility.
What role does network observability play in NetOps?
NetOps depends on observability to understand a system’s internal state from external outputs. In networking, this means using correlated telemetry and context to explain not only that something is wrong, but why it happened.
How does automation fit into NetOps?
NetOps encourages automating repeatable tasks like configuration changes and access control where possible, and using continuous feedback loops to improve each change cycle. Automation is paired with validation so changes are fast but still safe.
How can NetOps validate network changes before rollout?
A practical pattern is: plan the change, validate assumptions with visualization/observability tools to catch configuration issues early, implement, then monitor in real time to detect problems during live operations.
How does NetOps improve troubleshooting speed?
Troubleshooting improves when teams reduce manual correlation and have consistent processes for investigating incidents. NetOps also benefits from tools and practices that make network troubleshooting faster and easier during live operations.
How does NetOps support security operations?
NetOps often collaborates with security teams to detect threats on the network, deploy and monitor security tools, and investigate suspicious activity as part of incident response.
What are the biggest NetOps challenges in 2026?
Common challenges include hybrid/multi-cloud visibility gaps, fragmented toolsets, higher traffic volume from IoT and AI workloads, escalating security and Zero Trust requirements, pressure to reduce MTTR, and increasing cloud and network cost pressures. See: Top Network Operations Challenges in 2026.
