Forward Networks
Forward Networks provides a digital twin platform that models your entire network infrastructure to prevent outages, verify security policies, and automate complex change management tasks effectively.
IP Fabric
IP Fabric is an automated network assurance platform that provides complete visibility and control over complex enterprise networks through vendor-neutral discovery and high-fidelity digital twin modeling.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | Forward Networks | IP Fabric |
|---|---|---|
| Website | forwardnetworks.com | ipfabric.io |
| Pricing Model | Custom | Custom |
| Starting Price | Custom Pricing | Custom Pricing |
| FREE Trial | ✘ No free trial | ✘ No free trial |
| Free Plan | ✘ No free plan | ✘ No free plan |
| Product Demo | ✓ Request demo here | ✓ Request demo here |
| Deployment | ||
| Integrations | ||
| Target Users | ||
| Target Industries | ||
| Customer Count | 0 | 0 |
| Founded Year | 2013 | 2015 |
| Headquarters | Santa Clara, USA | Prague, Czech Republic |
Overview
Forward Networks
Forward Networks provides a mathematical model of your entire network, creating a functional digital twin that spans on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments. You can visualize every possible traffic path and verify that your network is behaving exactly as intended. By analyzing your network's state against your specific business policies, the platform identifies misconfigurations and security gaps before they cause outages or breaches.
You can use the platform to perform 'what-if' analysis, allowing you to test changes in the digital twin before deploying them to production. This proactive approach eliminates manual troubleshooting and reduces the risk of human error. Whether you are managing complex data centers or sprawling multi-cloud deployments, you gain a single source of truth that simplifies audits and accelerates digital transformation initiatives.
IP Fabric
IP Fabric helps you master your network complexity by creating a mathematical model of your entire infrastructure. You can discover every device, link, and configuration across your multi-vendor environment without manual effort. This baseline allows you to visualize your actual network topology and verify that your security policies and routing logic work exactly as intended.
You can use the platform to accelerate troubleshooting, plan migrations with confidence, and ensure continuous compliance. By providing a 'single source of truth,' it helps your network operations and security teams collaborate more effectively. It is designed for mid-to-large enterprises managing thousands of devices who need to move from reactive firefighting to proactive, automated network assurance.
Overview
Forward Networks Features
- Network Digital Twin Create a vendor-agnostic mathematical model of your entire network to visualize paths across all devices and cloud instances.
- Path Analysis Search for any traffic path between two points to see exactly how packets are handled by every hop.
- Intent Verification Define your network policies and receive instant alerts if a configuration change violates your security or connectivity rules.
- Change Modeling Predict the impact of planned changes by testing them against the digital twin before touching your production environment.
- Security Posture Blast Visualize the potential reach of a compromised host to identify and close security holes in your segmentation strategy.
- Automated Documentation Generate up-to-date network diagrams and configuration state reports automatically for simplified compliance audits and troubleshooting.
IP Fabric Features
- Automated Discovery. Discover your entire multi-vendor network in minutes without manual data entry or maintaining complex spreadsheets.
- Network Digital Twin. Create a high-fidelity mathematical model of your network to simulate traffic paths and predict impact before making changes.
- End-to-End Path Analysis. Visualize exactly how traffic flows between any two points in your network across switching, routing, and firewalls.
- Compliance Verification. Automatically check your configurations against internal standards and regulatory requirements to identify security gaps instantly.
- Historical Snapshots. Compare your current network state against previous points in time to identify exactly what changed during an outage.
- Vendor-Neutral Visibility. Manage hardware from Cisco, Juniper, Arista, and dozens of other vendors through a single, unified interface.
Pricing Comparison
Forward Networks Pricing
IP Fabric Pricing
Pros & Cons
Forward Networks
Pros
- Unmatched visibility into complex multi-vendor network environments
- Drastically reduces time spent on manual troubleshooting
- Simplifies complex compliance audits with automated verification
- Prevents costly outages by catching errors before deployment
Cons
- Initial data collection setup requires significant time
- High price point targets large enterprise budgets
- Requires consistent data snapshots for maximum accuracy
IP Fabric
Pros
- Unmatched visibility into complex multi-vendor network topologies
- Drastically reduces time spent on manual network mapping
- Powerful API makes integration with other IT tools easy
- Excellent path lookup features for rapid troubleshooting
- Simplifies audit preparation with automated compliance reporting
Cons
- Initial setup requires careful credential management
- Learning curve to master advanced query expressions
- Pricing can be high for very large environments