A Partnership for Transformation
Listening to the latest Network Automation Nerds podcast featuring Cox Communications, we couldn’t help but nod along (and maybe laugh a little) at some of the hard-won insights shared by their team. At Network to Code (NTC), we’ve been in the trenches with Cox, tackling automation challenges, and let’s just say—we’ve seen it all.
Hearing that conversation is like reliving the last few years of work in real time. Cox had a monumental challenge ahead, and they came in ready to roll up their sleeves.
As David Ezell, Director of Network Automation at Cox Communications, put it:
“We were moving more intelligence out closer to the home, and that required an entire organization… to start collaborating closely with our main telecom centers.”
That’s exactly where we got involved. When Cox brought us in back in 2021 to work under David Ezell’s leadership in the Automation Center of Excellence, it was clear they were serious about transformation. One of the main objectives was ensuring the security of all network devices across Cox Communications’ various business units (internally referred to as domains). But what did that actually mean? It meant dealing with legacy gear that didn’t want to talk to modern systems, a patchwork of vendor platforms, and scaling automation across thousands of devices—without breaking anything (easier said than done).
Spoiler alert—we made it work.
The Catalyst for Network Automation
Cox wasn’t dipping a toe into automation—they were diving in headfirst. With thousands upon thousands of network devices spanning multiple domains and architectures, their automation-first mindset wasn’t just a strategic advantage—it was a necessity to maintain scalability, security, and operational efficiency.
“Cox took a very automation-first mindset… we’re talking thousands upon thousands of provisioned network devices.” – David Ezell
This is where Nautobot and NTC’s expertise came in. Our goal? Make automation scale, make it flexible, and—most importantly—make it work across everything.
With Nautobot’s vendor-agnostic capabilities, Cox was able to:
- Unify automation across disparate network devices
- Implement golden configuration management for standardization
- Ensure compliance at scale
That’s the power of open source. We love open-source solutions because they keep automation adaptable, vendor-neutral, and future-proof. That’s exactly the approach we took with Cox—no black-box automation, just scalable solutions that engineers can trust.
Solving Brownfield and Greenfield Challenges
If you’ve ever tried automating a legacy (brownfield) network, you know it’s like fixing an airplane mid-flight. Cox had a mix of legacy hardware with zero APIs and new controller-driven platforms.
“Brownfield is orders of magnitude harder to influence… introducing new practices is a major challenge.” – David Ezell
We needed to ensure automation worked for both environments. The solution needed to support existing installations of devices and allow for customization down to a single-device level in some cases. With NTC’s strong expertise and deep automation experience, we collaborated with Cox to create a solution that was flexible enough to suit their varying use cases but also scalable enough to address their operating size.
By leveraging Nautobot’s flexible architecture, we helped normalize data across old and new systems, allowing Cox to:
- Custom-handle aged devices without API support
- Enforce compliance consistently across all business units
- Reduce manual configurations (a.k.a. “fat-finger-proofing” the network)
This was about evolution over revolution. The result? A unified, automation-ready network that reduces maintenance costs and operational overhead. By normalizing Cox’s vast brownfield infrastructure, we ensured consistent visibility and control—positioning them for rapid growth. New deployments integrate seamlessly into the existing framework, reducing obsolescence and ensuring standardized configurations. This minimizes costly, labor-intensive support and remediation.
Building Trust with a Network Source of Truth
In automation, trusting your data is everything. Nautobot was deployed in several Cox environments to function as the Network Source of Truth for all network data, with the specific intent of building trust through transparency. Before Nautobot, Cox relied on manual records and—surprise, surprise—data accuracy was hit-or-miss.
“Nautobot has become the most accurate source of truth we have… other teams are now pulling inventory and compliance data from it.” – Eric Hansen
“We used Nautobot’s plugins to pull data from multiple sources, creating a cache that acts as a single source of truth.” – Joshua Watkins
This was the game-changer. By integrating Nautobot’s SSoT framework, we helped Cox standardize and normalize device information across the enterprise by integrating multiple third-party systems into Nautobot. This created a unified view of network inventory and security posture, allowing Cox to:
- Pull real-time device inventory data from multiple sources
- Normalize network configurations across all domains
- Provide reliable compliance reporting
Instead of relying on gut feelings or outdated spreadsheets, Cox engineers now have a single, trusted source of network truth at their fingertips.
Empowering Engineers Through Collaboration and Tools
Introducing new tools without proper training is like handing a Ferrari to someone without a driver’s license. Cox recognized that for automation to succeed, it had to start with the engineers using it daily. They set the stage for success by creating a structured program for education and outreach, ensuring that engineers had the necessary skills and support.
A key part of this initiative was Pair Programming, a development best practice where two engineers work together at one workstation—one acting as the ‘driver’ writing code, while the other serves as the ‘navigator,’ reviewing, strategizing, and ensuring best practices are applied. This structured approach not only improved code quality and reduced errors but also created a culture of continuous learning and collaboration, ensuring automation best practices and solutions were applied across teams and domains.
“Our team developed programs like peer-to-peer outreach to upskill engineers on Jinja, YAML, and Ansible.” – Eric Hansen
“[In pair programming] One person does the work, one person does the thinking… it’s part of our DNA in network engineering.” – Joshua Watkins
To drive adoption, NTC partnered with Cox to equip their teams with the knowledge and skills needed to maintain and expand the Nautobot platform’s capabilities. NTC’s live-training programs provide:
- Quarterly hands-on training sessions for engineers
- Weekly office hours for troubleshooting and mentorship
- Peer-to-peer learning culture, helping engineers transition from CLI-based configs to Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
Our goal was to embed automation as second nature for Cox engineers, ensuring it wasn’t just a top-down initiative but something that actually made their jobs easier.
Success in Action: DEFCON and Compliance at Scale
If you want to see how well your network holds up under pressure, let hackers take a shot at it. That’s exactly what Cox did at DEFCON, by providing the network services for the conference. At this annual event in Las Vegas, any connected device is fair game to the attending hackers.
“DEFCON was like the Super Bowl of cybersecurity… Nautobot played a critical role in ensuring compliance and monitoring.” – Joshua Watkins
And the result? Cox not only survived DEFCON but exceeded expectations. The ability to monitor and remediate configuration drift in real-time was critical for the Cox team’s success there. As security leader Damien Whaley put it:
“We impressed DEFCON… our capabilities far exceeded their expectations.”
A Model for Network Automation Excellence
Cox’s partnership with Network to Code has delivered scalability, compliance, and a fully trained engineering team capable of sustaining and expanding automation efforts.
What can other enterprises learn from this?
✅ A Network Source of Truth is essential for visibility and compliance.
✅ Automation is a cultural shift, not just a technology shift.
✅ Training and collaboration are critical to adoption and long-term success.
Is your team ready to follow Cox’s lead with an automation-first approach? Listen to the full podcast to learn more about their journey.And if you’d like to discuss your specific needs, contact Network to Code to explore how we can transform your network operations today.
-Justin and Matt
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