Intent-Based Networking (IBN) is an approach to

network management Network management is the process of administering and managing computer networks. Services provided by this discipline include fault analysis, performance management, provisioning of networks and maintaining quality of service. Network managem ...

that shifts the focus from manually configuring individual devices to specifying desired outcomes or business objectives, referred to as "intents".

Description

Rather than relying on low-level commands to configure the

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

administrators Administrator or admin may refer to: Job roles Computing and internet * Database administrator, a person who is responsible for the environmental aspects of a database * Forum administrator, one who oversees discussions on an Internet forum * N ...

define these high-level intents, and the network dynamically adjusts itself to meet these requirements. IBN simplifies the management of complex networks by ensuring that the

network infrastructure A computer network is a collection of communicating computers and other devices, such as printers and smart phones. In order to communicate, the computers and devices must be connected by wired media like copper cables, optical fibers, or b ...

aligns with the desired operational goals. For example, an implementer can explicitly state a network purpose with a policy such as "Allow

hosts A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it. Host may also refer to: Places * Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County * Host Island, in the Wilhelm Archipelago, Antarctica People * ...

A and B to communicate with X

bandwidth Bandwidth commonly refers to: * Bandwidth (signal processing) or ''analog bandwidth'', ''frequency bandwidth'', or ''radio bandwidth'', a measure of the width of a frequency range * Bandwidth (computing), the rate of data transfer, bit rate or thr ...

capacity" without the need to understand the detailed mechanisms of the underlying devices (e.g.

switch In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type o ...

es),

topology Topology (from the Greek language, Greek words , and ) is the branch of mathematics concerned with the properties of a Mathematical object, geometric object that are preserved under Continuous function, continuous Deformation theory, deformat ...

routing Routing is the process of selecting a path for traffic in a Network theory, network or between or across multiple networks. Broadly, routing is performed in many types of networks, including circuit-switched networks, such as the public switched ...

configurations.

Architecture

Advances in

Natural Language Understanding Natural language understanding (NLU) or natural language interpretation (NLI) is a subset of natural language processing in artificial intelligence that deals with machine reading comprehension. NLU has been considered an AI-hard problem. Ther ...

(NLU) systems, along with neural network-based algorithms like BERT,

RoBERTa Roberta is a feminine version of the given names Robert and Roberto. It is a Germanic name derived from the stems *hrod meaning "famous", "glorious", "godlike" and *berht meaning "bright", "shining", "light". People with the name *Roberta Achtenbe ...

GLUE Adhesive, also known as glue, cement, mucilage, or paste, is any non-metallic substance applied to one or both surfaces of two separate items that binds them together and resists their separation. The use of adhesives offers certain advantage ...

, and

ERNIE Ernie is a masculine given name, frequently a short form (hypocorism) of Ernest, Ernald, Ernesto, or Verner. It may refer to: People * Ernie Accorsi (born 1941), American football executive * Ernie Adams (disambiguation) * Ernie Afaganis ...

, have enabled the conversion of user queries into structured representations that can be processed by automated services. This capability is crucial for managing the increasing complexity of

network service In computer networking, a network service is an application running at the network layer and above, that provides data storage, manipulation, presentation, communication or other capability which is often implemented using a client–server or pe ...

s. Intent-Based Networking (IBN) leverages these advancements to simplify

by abstracting

s, reducing operational complexity, and lowering costs. A proposed three-layered architecture integrates intent-based automation into network management systems. In the business layer, intents are based on

Key Performance Indicators A performance indicator or key performance indicator (KPI) is a type of performance measurement. KPIs evaluate the success of an organization or of a particular activity (such as projects, programs, products and other initiatives) in which it e ...

(KPIs) and Service Level Agreements (SLAs), reflecting business objectives. The intent layer evaluates and re-plans actions dynamically, where a Knowledge module abstracts and reasons about intents, while an Agent interfaces with network objects to execute actions. The data layer observes network objects, updates topology information, and interacts with the Knowledge and Agent modules to ensure accurate and timely responses to network changes. At the bottom, the network layer contains the physical infrastructure, transforming network data into a usable format for the intent layer to act upon.

References

{{Reflist Network management Computer networks