A pre-execution network verification capability from Forward Networks has moved out of beta and into general availability, giving engineering teams and autonomous agents a way to check the full impact of a proposed change before it reaches a production environment.
Forward Predict runs each proposed change against a mathematically accurate digital twin of the entire network. Engineers and AI agents can model BGP route adjustments, access control list changes, NAT modifications, and firewall rule updates at design time. The system checks connectivity, security posture, and compliance simultaneously, and can regression-test every change against the current network state.
The product entered beta in May. IG Group applied it first to BGP and routing validation, then extended it to firewall rule requests. Firewall change delivery time fell by approximately 95%, and engineers recovered more than 30 hours of manual work each month. A second unnamed global customer expects Forward Predict to deliver more than $3 million in annual benefits.
Steve Bamford, Senior Network Engineer at IG Group, described how the deployment expanded organically. "We've been using Forward Predict for a few months now and continue to find new use cases. We extended it from validating our BGP and routing changes to our firewall rule workflow, where automated path checks now catch requests for rules that aren't even necessary before they're implemented. That's cut our firewall change delivery time by roughly 95 percent and is saving our engineers more than 30 hours of manual work every month."
The general availability timing reflects wider industry pressure to give AI automation a verification layer. Forward positions the capability as a foundation for agentic network operations, where autonomous systems propose and execute changes without step-by-step human sign-off. Nikhil Handigol, Chief AI Officer and co-founder, set out the rationale: "Know before you act is more than a tagline, it's the operating model Agentic NetOps requires. AI agents can propose change at machine speed, but speed without proof of correctness just accelerates risk. Forward Predict verifies the impact of every proposed change with Forward's mathematically accurate digital twin before execution. That gives agents the evidence they need to operate safely, and gives engineers the confidence to move faster."
The release also extends the digital twin's coverage. Zscaler ZPA and IBM Cloud have been added to the modelled environment, and support now spans nine new device types across six vendors, including Cisco FMC and FTD, Check Point Maestro, and F5 Velos.
Forward's named customers include Goldman Sachs, PayPal, S&P Global, IBM, and Dell. An IDC report put the average annual benefit per customer at $14.2 million.
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