NetPilot

Network Research Lab

Describe any protocol experiment in plain English and an AI agent builds a real multi-vendor lab in the cloud — reproduce cross-vendor bugs, inject failures, and validate research without hardware.

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Research labs, on demand

~2 min
from a plain-English prompt to a deployed multi-vendor research lab
9+
real network OSes the agent configures in one topology, and growing
10 min
to reproduce a cross-vendor bug that used to take 6 weeks of hardware

Why a research team picks NetPilot

Cloud-native + AI-designed in one product — reproduce real multi-vendor device behavior in ~2 minutes instead of weeks of hardware sourcing and DIY setup. Four capabilities that compound for protocol R&D and reproducibility.

Cloud-native

Browser only. Nothing to install.

The alternative

Keysight IxNetwork / VIAVI TestCenter: six-figure hardware racks, licenses, and specialist operators just to start a test.

AI-designed

Describe any topology in plain English — AI designs, configures, and deploys it; SSH in to verify.

The alternative

GNS3 / EVE-NG / ContainerLab: hand-wire the topology, source every image, and write per-vendor configs by device.

Multi-turn iteration

“Add an Arista spine, move OSPF to area 0.0.0.1” → AI updates across all devices.

The alternative

Re-rack gear or rebuild the testbed by hand for every experimental variant you want to compare.

2 minutes vs days/weeks

~2 minutes from prompt to working multi-vendor lab.

The alternative

6 weeks to source hardware and stand up a cross-vendor bug-repro testbed — per experiment.

See It in Action

Watch NetPilot build a complete multi-vendor lab from a single plain-English description.

From research idea to validated experiment

Describe it, let the agent design and deploy it, then SSH into real device CLIs to verify — in about two minutes.

1. Describe or import the topology

Write the research scenario in plain English — vendors, ASNs, protocols, failure conditions — or import existing configs. No manual topology builder, no YAML to hand-author.

app.netpilot.io

2. The AI designs and deploys in the cloud

NetPilot generates per-vendor configs and deploys a running ContainerLab topology on a managed cloud VM in about two minutes — no Docker, VMs, or image sourcing on your end. Golden-image validation runs on every release.

app.netpilot.io

3. SSH in to verify — and iterate

The agent builds; the CLI is your verification layer. SSH into real network-OS CLIs — Nokia SR Linux and FRR built in, Cisco/Juniper/Arista via BYOI — to run show route, debug, and commit, then say "add an Arista spine, move OSPF to area 0.0.0.1" and the agent updates every affected device.

app.netpilot.io

What you can research and reproduce

Multi-vendor protocol R&D, interoperability, failure injection, and reproducibility scenarios you can stand up from a single plain-English prompt — for protocol development, TAC/customer bug reproduction, and data-center fabric research.

Cross-vendor bug reproduction

Reproduce an EVPN, BGP, or MPLS interop bug across Nokia SR Linux (built in) plus Cisco, Juniper, and Arista (via BYOI) — the exact topology, deployed in minutes for a post-mortem or TAC case.

Protocol failure injection

Inject packet loss, link flaps, latency, jitter, and malformed packets (Scapy + tc/netem) to study protocol resilience and convergence under impairment.

RFC conformance research

Craft RFC-edge and RFC-non-compliant packets and observe how each vendor's NOS responds — conformance and robustness testing without certification hardware.

BGP / OSPF / IS-IS convergence

Measure convergence and route-table behavior across vendors and protocols on identical topologies — deterministic, repeatable, publication-grade.

EVPN-VXLAN fabric R&D

Build leaf-spine fabrics with an eBGP underlay and EVPN overlay to research data-center scale, interop, and failure behavior before racking gear.

SONiC & open-NOS development

Validate FRR or SONiC behavior against Nokia SR Linux (built in) plus Cisco and Arista (via BYOI) in the same fabric — open-networking interop before production rollout.

MANET & mesh-resilience research

Compare FRR Babel vs OSPF vs IS-IS in lossy mesh topologies under RF-fading and partition conditions — tactical and community-mesh research, no radios.

Reproducible artifacts for papers

Every lab emits a ContainerLab YAML, per-vendor configs, and a shareable URL — rerunnable artifacts for SIGCOMM / USENIX / IMC artifact evaluation.

Built for every network research team

From hyperscaler fabric R&D to defense research labs — one platform, six research tracks. Each links to a dedicated deep-dive.

Hyperscalers & cloud operators

SONiC development. Fabric scale testing. Multi-vendor interop.

Testing a SONiC integration against Cisco NX-OS and Arista EOS (Cisco and Arista via BYOI; SONiC built for you on the enterprise plan) in the same fabric — without racking gear.

Explore this track

Carriers & ISPs

Cross-vendor interop bugs. Outage forensics. Migration validation.

An EOL Cisco router sent a malformed EVPN packet that crashed a Juniper vMX. Reproduce in 10 minutes, not 6 weeks.

Explore this track

Network equipment R&D

Pre-release regression. TAC case reproduction. Competitive benchmarking.

A customer-reported Juniper–Arista interop bug. Stood up the exact topology with real vendor images in 2 minutes.

Explore this track

Defense & government research

MANETs. Tactical radio modeling. Protocol research under adversarial conditions.

Comparing routing protocol behavior across multi-vendor stacks under packet loss and wireless impairment — no physical radios needed.

Explore this track

Universities & research labs

Paper reproducibility. Protocol experiments. Thesis labs.

Reproducing a published BGP convergence experiment in minutes. Same topology, same vendors, deterministic results.

Explore this track

Open networking & FRR teams

FRR protocol labs. SONiC interop. Babel mesh and SRv6 experiments.

Testing FRR Babel vs OSPF convergence in a 12-node mesh topology — deployed from one prompt, no containerlab install needed.

Explore this track

Network research labs compared

NetPilot combines AI-native topology design, multi-vendor real-CLI labs, cloud deployment, failure injection, and validation orchestration. As of 2026, no other platform bundles all five for research labs.

AI-native (prompt → lab)
NetPilot
Yes
Keysight IxNetwork
No
VIAVI TestCenter
No
GNS3
No
EVE-NG
No
ContainerLab
No
Cisco CML
No
Multi-vendor (9+ OSes)
NetPilot
Yes
Keysight IxNetwork
Yes
VIAVI TestCenter
Yes
GNS3
BYOI
EVE-NG
BYOI
ContainerLab
BYOI
Cisco CML
Cisco only
Real device CLIs
NetPilot
Yes
Keysight IxNetwork
Yes
VIAVI TestCenter
Yes
GNS3
Yes
EVE-NG
Yes
ContainerLab
Yes
Cisco CML
Yes
Cloud self-serve
NetPilot
Yes
Keysight IxNetwork
No
VIAVI TestCenter
No
GNS3
No
EVE-NG
No
ContainerLab
No
Cisco CML
Limited
Built-in failure injection
NetPilot
Yes
Keysight IxNetwork
Yes
VIAVI TestCenter
Yes
GNS3
No
EVE-NG
No
ContainerLab
tc/netem
Cisco CML
No
Validation orchestration
NetPilot
Yes
Keysight IxNetwork
Partial
VIAVI TestCenter
Partial
GNS3
No
EVE-NG
No
ContainerLab
No
Cisco CML
No
Setup time
NetPilot
Minutes
Keysight IxNetwork
Weeks
VIAVI TestCenter
Weeks
GNS3
Days
EVE-NG
Days
ContainerLab
Hours
Cisco CML
Hours
Deployment model
NetPilot
Cloud SaaS, enterprise on-prem
Keysight IxNetwork
Hardware appliances
VIAVI TestCenter
Hardware appliances
GNS3
Self-hosted
EVE-NG
Self-hosted
ContainerLab
Self-hosted
Cisco CML
Self-hosted / limited cloud

Keysight IxNetwork and VIAVI TestCenter require six-figure hardware investments. GNS3, EVE-NG, and ContainerLab require DIY setup on self-hosted infrastructure. Vendor sandboxes are single-vendor. NetPilot covers the gap with a cloud-native enterprise platform.

Bottom line: which research lab for which job

Pick ns-3 / OMNeT++ / Mininet / physical testbeds when you need:

  • •ns-3 and OMNeT++ for packet-level, publication-grade algorithmic simulation and reproducible discrete-event research
  • •Mininet for lightweight SDN / OpenFlow controller experiments on a single host
  • •Physical testbeds and Keysight IxNetwork / VIAVI TestCenter for line-rate, hardware-fidelity conformance and performance certification
  • •Forward, Selector, Itential, and Kentik for Day-2 production assurance, AIOps, and live-network observability

Pick NetPilot when you need:

  • •Reproducing real multi-vendor NOS behavior — Nokia SR Linux and FRR built in, Cisco/Juniper/Arista via BYOI — not a simulation model
  • •AI-built topologies + per-vendor configs deployed in the cloud in ~2 minutes, no hardware sourcing
  • •Cross-vendor interop, TAC/customer bug reproduction, BGP convergence, and data-center fabric R&D with fast, conversational iteration
  • •Shareable, rerunnable ContainerLab artifacts for reproducibility — and a real SSH CLI alongside the agent to verify

Verdict:For pure algorithmic, SDN, or hardware-rate simulation, ns-3 / Mininet and Keysight / VIAVI remain the right tools — and stay complementary to NetPilot, not replaced by it; Day-2 production assurance belongs to the AIOps tools. NetPilot owns Day-0/Day-1: multi-vendor protocol R&D where reproducing actual device behavior in minutes (cloud, no hardware) matters more than a simulation model. As of 2026, it is the AI-native network research lab built for that job.

Frequently asked questions

Common questions from enterprise network research teams evaluating NetPilot.

A network research lab is a controlled multi-vendor environment for protocol R&D, cross-vendor interop, and reproducible experiments. Traditionally that means university testbeds, racked gear, or DIY GNS3/EVE-NG setups. NetPilot is the AI-native version: describe the experiment in plain English — vendors, ASNs, protocols, failure conditions — and the AI agent designs the topology, writes per-vendor configs, and deploys real network-OS containers in the cloud in about two minutes. You then SSH into each device to verify. As of 2026, NetPilot is the productized AI-built runnable network research lab for multi-vendor protocol research.
Describe the topology to NetPilot in plain English — for example, "Cisco IOL router and Juniper vMX in EVPN peering, plus a Linux endpoint generating malformed EVPN packets." NetPilot builds the lab in under 2 minutes with real device CLIs. Use the Linux endpoint with Scapy to inject the specific packet, then observe the target vendor's behavior via SSH. What traditionally takes 6 weeks of hardware sourcing and lab setup takes 10 minutes.
Yes. NetPilot runs actual vendor network operating systems as containers in a managed cloud lab — Nokia SR Linux, FRR, and Linux are built in; Cisco IOL, Juniper cRPD, Arista cEOS, Palo Alto PAN-OS, and Fortinet FortiGate run via bring-your-own-image. You SSH into each device and run real vendor CLIs: show route, debug, commit, reload. No simulation, no abstraction layer, no hardware.
Keysight IxNetwork and VIAVI TestCenter (formerly Spirent TestCenter) are hardware-based traffic generators and test appliances priced in six figures, requiring physical racks, licenses, and specialist operators. NetPilot is an AI-built cloud platform — you describe the topology in plain English and get a multi-vendor lab with traffic generation and failure injection in 2 minutes. For research teams that don't need hardware-rate traffic generation, NetPilot replaces much of what these hardware platforms are used for on cloud infrastructure you don't have to operate. Keysight and VIAVI remain the line-rate certification choice; NetPilot is the Day-0/Day-1 build-and-validate choice. Enterprise plans include dedicated environments, custom vendor support, and workflow integration — contact sales for pricing.
Yes. Every NetPilot lab includes Linux endpoint(s) that support tc netem (packet loss, latency, jitter, duplication, reordering, rate limiting, link flap scripting) and Scapy (malformed packet crafting — BGP, EVPN, OSPF, custom). Use cases: carrier-grade failure injection, chaos testing, RFC-non-compliant packet behavior, and IP-layer impairment modeling for mesh research.
No. NetPilot runs ContainerLab on a managed cloud VM provisioned per user — no Docker, no VMs, no Linux host configuration on your end. Golden-image validation runs on every release so the vendor images are always tested. You get a working lab by describing what you want.
Yes. GNS3 and EVE-NG require local or self-hosted VM infrastructure and manual image sourcing — hours to days of setup per engineer. NetPilot is a fully cloud-hosted equivalent with AI-driven topology and configuration, multi-vendor images, and a browser-based workflow. You trade DIY flexibility for 100x faster ship time on research experiments.
Yes — NetPilot is built on ContainerLab, so any vendor image that runs in ContainerLab can be deployed. FRR (with OSPF, IS-IS, BGP, Babel, RIP, and PIM), Nokia SR Linux, and Linux are built in on every plan. The commercial vendors (Cisco IOL, Juniper cRPD, Arista cEOS, Palo Alto PAN-OS, Fortinet FortiGate) run via user-provided vendor images (BYOI). SONiC and other custom NOS images are built for you on the enterprise plan with a dedicated environment.
Describe the scenario in plain English ("Cisco IOL advertising a malformed EVPN Type-2 route to a Juniper vMX") and NetPilot generates the multi-vendor topology + configs + deploys in ~2 minutes on real NOS. Capture packet traces (tshark inside the lab), CLI output, and the full ContainerLab YAML — every artifact is reproducible and shareable. As of 2026, NetPilot is the productized AI-native runnable-lab option for publication-grade multi-vendor bug reproduction; Keysight and VIAVI stay the hardware-rate certification choice for line-rate performance research.
Every NetPilot research lab produces a reproducible artifact: the ContainerLab YAML topology file, per-vendor config files, and a shareable lab URL so reviewers can open the running topology in their browser without setup. For SIGCOMM / USENIX / IMC artifact-evaluation submissions this closes the reproducibility gap — reviewers can rerun the exact multi-vendor lab you published in the paper without sourcing hardware or licensed images. Enterprise on-prem deployments support private sharing for NDA-gated research.
Yes. NetPilot's enterprise plan includes a self-hosted / on-prem research-lab deployment for teams with data-residency, institutional-hosting, or classified-adjacent requirements — the platform runs on your own authorized infrastructure. The cloud-hosted product is the default self-serve; on-prem is available via Contact Sales.

Research tracks & playbooks

Hyperscaler Fabric R&D

SONiC development, fabric scale testing, and multi-vendor interop without racking gear.

Carrier & ISP Research

Cross-vendor interop bugs, outage forensics, and migration validation.

Network Equipment R&D

Pre-release regression, TAC case reproduction, and competitive benchmarking.

Defense & Government Research

MANETs, tactical radio modeling, and protocol research under adversarial conditions.

Universities & Research Labs

Paper reproducibility, protocol experiments, and thesis labs.

Open Networking & FRR

FRR protocol labs, SONiC interop, and Babel mesh / SRv6 experiments.

Further reading

Keysight vs VIAVI vs NetPilot

Honest comparison of 9 platforms — from six-figure testers to AI-built cloud labs.

Best Network Research Lab in 2026

Tier-ranked comparison of 10 platforms for network research.

Reproduce an EVPN Bug in 10 Minutes

A Tier-1 ISP post-mortem compressed from 6 weeks to 10 minutes.

AI-Powered MANET Research Labs

Reproducible mesh-network experiments in the cloud.

FRRouting Cloud Labs

Build any FRR lab — BGP, OSPF, IS-IS, Babel, EVPN, SRv6 — from a prompt.

AI Network Emulator

The underlying AI-native multi-vendor emulator this research lab runs on.

Bring your next network research idea to NetPilot

Describe any network, any vendor mix, any failure condition, any protocol — NetPilot builds it in the cloud with real device CLIs, validated, in under 2 minutes. Enterprise plans add dedicated environments, custom vendor support, on-prem, and SSO/audit. Talk to us about your research program.

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