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In today’s connected world, speed isn’t a competitive advantage, it’s the baseline. The ability to deliver new services faster, with greater consistency and control, is what separates providers who lead from those who follow. And for most, the barrier isn’t strategy, it’s the operational reality of fragmented automation.
That’s the story Colt faced head-on.
The Cost of Fragmentation
Colt is a global service provider with a simple mission: connect enterprises across the world with reliable, agile network services. But behind the scenes, their engineers were dealing with the complexity every large provider knows too well – hundreds of scripts, scattered across teams and laptops, built for one-off use cases.
That model works – until it doesn’t.
Without standardization, every deployment becomes an exception. Timelines stretch. Quality varies. And what should be an engine for innovation turns into an obstacle to progress.
For Colt, deploying a new service could take six months, a year, sometimes even two. That wasn’t just inefficiency, it was a drag on the business.
Building the Foundation for Scale
When Colt evaluated their next step, they didn’t look for a tool. They looked for a foundation, something that could unify how automation is developed, delivered, and scaled.
They chose Itential.
With Itential, Colt introduced a software-defined networking (SDN) layer that gave them visibility and control across systems. They integrated IP allocation, Azure Git repos, and workflows into a single automation ecosystem. And just as importantly, they realigned their teams around a new operating model:
- Network engineers focused on design.
- The automation team turned those designs into workflows and code.
That shift created the kind of clarity and speed that had been missing. It turned automation into a capability, not a collection of scripts.
Speed, Consistency, & Confidence
Since deploying Itential, Colt has accelerated its pace of innovation dramatically. They’re now able to roll out new services in weeks instead of years, with confidence that every configuration meets a consistent, standardized model.
Since we deployed Itential, the speed at which we are developing automation and innovation has increased massively.
– Shirish Basant Rai, Network Platforms & Systems Architect, Colt
That’s what transformation looks like – not in theory, but in practice.
The Next Frontier: AI-Driven Operations
Colt’s story doesn’t end with automation. With a solid foundation in place, they’re now looking ahead to AI-driven operations – networks that are predictive, resilient, and self-optimizing.
That’s where the industry is headed: a world where human expertise and machine intelligence work together to deliver smarter, faster, more reliable networks.
And the organizations that are ready for it are the ones that have done what Colt did – build the automation muscle now.
From Operations to Innovation
At Itential, we believe automation isn’t just about efficiency, it’s about potential.
It’s what allows engineers to spend more time designing and less time maintaining. It’s what enables providers to deliver new services faster, with greater reliability. And it’s what positions the entire industry to move from network operations to network innovation.
Colt’s journey is proof that when you have the right foundation, the network becomes a catalyst for growth – not a constraint.
Kristen H. Rachels
Chief Marketing Officer ‐ Itential
Kristen serves as Chief Marketing Officer for Itential, leading their go-to-market strategy and execution to accelerate the adoption and expansion of the company’s products and services.
