Forward Opens Enterprise Network Digital Twin to Mid-Market Teams

The initiative targets the growing gap in network visibility, offering tools to map data center and cloud environments without stitching together disparate spreadsheets or tribal knowledge. By leveraging Forward AI, engineers can input queries in plain English to receive evidence-based analysis of their infrastructure. This includes identifying specific assets impacted by common vulnerabilities and exposures, or CVEs, which allows teams to prioritize remediation efforts based on actual exposure levels rather than guesswork.

Since its founding in 2013, the company has positioned itself as a provider of deterministic network proof, counting Goldman Sachs, PayPal, and IBM among its long-term users. The platform supports multi-vendor setups across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and IBM. According to CEO David Erickson, the decision to lower the barrier to entry stems from a belief that operational certainty should not be reserved solely for organizations with the largest budgets. Industry observers like ZK Research analyst Zeus Kerravala suggest that this shift reflects a broader move toward automated, AI-driven operations in increasingly complex enterprise environments.