Ørsted's Firewall Automation Success Highlights the Criticality of Data Foundations and Product-Centric Approaches

Ørsted, a Danish energy company, has significantly improved its firewall change process by implementing a comprehensive network automation solution. The company reduced the deployment time for pre-approved firewall requests to approximately 10 minutes, a stark contrast to previous manual processes. This was achieved by automating not only the configuration changes but also the validation steps and integration with their Change Advisory Board (CAB) process. This development is significant for network and security practitioners because it highlights the often-overlooked foundational elements of successful automation. Many organizations jump into automating individual tasks without first establishing a solid data strategy. Ørsted's success demonstrates that a centralized, flexible data platform capable of supporting granular access controls and validation is critical. Without this, automation efforts can quickly become brittle and difficult to scale. This shift also frees up network and security engineers from mundane, repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus on higher-value activities like developing the automation platform itself or addressing complex security vulnerabilities. This initiative fits squarely within the broader trend of treating infrastructure as code and adopting DevOps principles in networking. The industry has been moving towards programmable infrastructure for years, driven by the need for agility, scalability, and reduced human error. Ørsted's approach of treating network automation as a product, rather than a collection of scripts, aligns with best practices seen in software development, including version control, change logs, and dedicated support. This product-centric view is essential for building sustainable and extensible automation solutions that can evolve with business needs. In practice, this means practitioners should prioritize building a robust data foundation before embarking on large-scale network automation projects. This involves identifying data sources, centralizing them, and implementing mechanisms for data validation and access control. Furthermore, adopting a product management mindset for automation initiatives—thinking about user experience, documentation, and ongoing support—will lead to more resilient and widely adopted solutions. Organizations should also be prepared for cultural shifts, as automation changes traditional roles and responsibilities, requiring clear communication and collaboration between network, security, and development teams.