NetPilot

Network POC Lab

Describe a prospect's network in plain English and NetPilot's AI builds a matching multi-vendor POC lab on real CLIs in about two minutes.

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app.netpilot.io

See It in Action

Watch how NetPilot builds a complete multi-vendor lab from a single plain-English description — then SSH in to verify before you share the URL with the prospect.

Built for demo velocity

~2 min
from a plain-English prospect description to a deployed customer-matched lab
12+
vendors in one POC topology, and growing — Nokia SR Linux, FRR, Linux built in, plus Cisco, Juniper, Arista via bring-your-own-image
1
dedicated cloud environment per demo — no shared-lab corruption mid-call

Selling network software specifically? See the vendor-specific vertical for the network-software-vendor sales-engineering use case.

How NetPilot differs for POC / sales engineering

Customer-matched lab in plain English. One dedicated env per demo. Shareable URL so the prospect drives. Same-day POC instead of same-quarter.

Cloud-native

Browser only. Nothing to install.

The alternative

Hosted EVE-NG / DIY demo rigs: VMs, image sourcing, and an IT ticket before tomorrow's customer call.

AI-designed

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

The alternative

Traditional POC setup: 2-4 days hand-building the prospect's topology, vendor-syntax context-switching per device.

Multi-turn iteration

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

The alternative

Re-author the demo lab by hand for every prospect-specific ask — a Palo Alto in the DMZ, a second transit provider.

2 minutes vs days/weeks

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

The alternative

Weeks per customer-matched lab; the prospect's attention window closes before the demo is ready.

What sales engineers ship with NetPilot

Same describe-build-share capability, four customer-facing workflows — qualification through RFP.

Qualification demos

Quick same-day lab for an initial technical call. Customer-matched topology, one protocol scenario, real CLIs — enough to prove capability fit without burning POC-engagement budget.

app.netpilot.io

Customer POC evaluations

Full multi-vendor mirror of the prospect's core. Pre-load scenarios around their specific pain points (BGP convergence, ACL migration, vendor interop). Shareable URL so their team drives the lab themselves.

app.netpilot.io

RFP / RFI technical responses & interop validation

Build the reference topology the RFP asks for, run the specific scenarios the RFI scores against, and prove your product interoperates with the prospect's existing Cisco + Juniper + Arista mix — then attach the lab URL and screenshots to the response.

app.netpilot.io

POC scenarios you can ship same-day

Describe any of these in plain English — the agent builds the customer-matched topology, writes the per-vendor configs, deploys it, and hands you a URL to share.

Customer-matched demo lab

Mirror the prospect's exact vendor mix and routing design — Cisco edge, Juniper transit, Arista leaf-spine — from one plain-English description in ~2 minutes.

Prospect-driven hands-on POC

Pass a dedicated URL so the customer SSHes in and runs real vendor CLIs themselves — the highest-converting demo format, not 'watch me click'.

BGP / OSPF convergence demo

Pre-load realistic eBGP/iBGP and multi-area OSPF, then shut a link live on the call and watch the network reconverge — proof, not slides.

Firewall & security-policy POC

Drop a Palo Alto or Fortinet in the DMZ (via BYOI), demo zone-based policy and NAT against the prospect's Cisco segments, all in one isolated env.

Multi-vendor interop validation

Cisco + Juniper + Arista + your product in one lab with real CLIs — prove cross-vendor behavior the prospect can verify on the wire.

RFP / RFI reference topology

Build the exact topology the RFP specifies, run the scenarios the RFI scores against, and attach the live lab URL plus screenshots to the response.

Sanitized-config digital twin

Paste the prospect's sanitized running configs and NetPilot rebuilds a matching mirror — same vendors, same protocol design, same rough scale.

Parallel demos, isolated per env

Run multiple customer POCs at once, each in its own dedicated cloud environment — no shared-lab corruption, no last-demo state leaking into the next.

NetPilot vs POC-lab alternatives

Head-to-head across CloudMyLab (hosted EVE-NG), Quali (orchestration), WWT / Anixter (consulting), DIY mirror labs, and NetPilot.

Primary use case
NetPilot
AI-built customer-matched multi-vendor POC in ~2 minutes
CloudMyLab
Hosted EVE-NG for existing .unl topology libraries
Quali
Enterprise orchestration across mixed demo environments
WWT / Anixter
White-glove consulting POC for six-figure infrastructure deals
DIY
Home lab / air-gapped customer POC on owned hardware
AI-designed sandbox from plain English
NetPilot
Plain English → lab
CloudMyLab
Manual EVE-NG topology builder
Quali
Config-driven orchestration, not AI-native
WWT / Anixter
Consulting-built, not AI
DIY
Hand-authored
Time to customer-ready lab
NetPilot
~2 minutes end-to-end
CloudMyLab
Hours after manual config
Quali
2-4 weeks to onboard orchestrator
WWT / Anixter
Weeks-to-months consulting engagement
DIY
Days-to-weeks per demo
Multi-vendor support
NetPilot
12+ vendors (growing)
CloudMyLab
Via EVE-NG BYOI
Quali
Vendor-agnostic orchestration
WWT / Anixter
Broad consulting lab
DIY
BYOI per vendor
Real CLIs via SSH
NetPilot
SSH to any device
CloudMyLab
SSH into EVE-NG
Quali
Orchestrator-gated access
WWT / Anixter
Consulting lab SSH
DIY
SSH per device
Customer-matched from plain English
NetPilot
Describe prospect, AI builds
CloudMyLab
Build it yourself in EVE-NG
Quali
Config-based setup
WWT / Anixter
Via consulting engagement
DIY
Manual per demo
Shareable URL for prospect hands-on
NetPilot
Dedicated URL per env
CloudMyLab
EVE-NG session share
Quali
Orchestrator share URLs
WWT / Anixter
Managed-access only
DIY
Self-host sharing yourself
Dedicated environment per demo
NetPilot
Per-lab isolation
CloudMyLab
Hosted per-team
Quali
Per-blueprint
WWT / Anixter
Per-engagement
DIY
Build it yourself
Offline / air-gapped operation
NetPilot
Cloud-first; enterprise on-prem available
CloudMyLab
Cloud-hosted only
Quali
On-prem available
WWT / Anixter
On-prem consulting
DIY
Fully offline
Cost model
NetPilot
Free tier + paid plans for teams
CloudMyLab
Weekly rental (~$23/wk min)
Quali
Enterprise license
WWT / Anixter
Consulting fees ($$$$)
DIY
Server + team time

Where NetPilot fits vs POC-lab alternatives

Pick hosted EVE-NG, enterprise orchestrators, consulting services, and DIY mirror labs when you need:

  • •CloudMyLab is the right choice for teams that specifically need hosted EVE-NG with existing .unl customer topology files
  • •Quali is the right fit for enterprise teams orchestrating a mix of network + cloud + application demo environments under one platform
  • •WWT and Anixter consulting POC engagements fit six-figure infrastructure evaluations where the whole deal hinges on a bespoke lab
  • •DIY EVE-NG / ContainerLab / CML for fully offline / air-gapped customer POCs on owned infrastructure

Pick NetPilot when you need:

  • •AI-built customer-matched multi-vendor lab in ~2 minutes, not hours-to-weeks
  • •Dedicated cloud environment per demo — no shared-lab corruption
  • •Shareable URL — customers SSH in and drive the lab themselves
  • •Describe the prospect's network in plain English, the agent builds it — you SSH in to verify
  • •Free tier for individual SEs; on-prem deployment available for teams

Verdict:CloudMyLab, Quali, and WWT stay the right choice for hosted-EVE-NG, enterprise orchestration, and consulting-heavy POCs respectively. NetPilot is the AI-built customer-matched POC-lab choice for sales engineers who want to ship a demo same-day, not same-quarter.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions from sales engineers, solutions architects, and pre-sales teams

Describe the customer's environment to NetPilot in plain English — for example, 'Cisco IOL edge + Juniper cRPD transit + Arista cEOS leaf-spine, pre-loaded with realistic BGP and OSPF'. The agent generates the multi-vendor topology and deploys it to cloud-hosted ContainerLab in ~2 minutes. SSH in to verify, pass the dedicated URL to the prospect, and they drive the demo themselves. Same-day customer-matched POCs, not same-quarter.
Self-serve from a browser — no IT ticket required. NetPilot runs cloud-hosted ContainerLab with 12+ vendors available in one topology (Nokia SR Linux, FRR, Linux built-in; Cisco IOL, Cisco XRd (IOS XR), Cisco NX-OS (Nexus 9300v), Juniper cRPD, Arista cEOS, Palo Alto, Fortinet, Dell SmartFabric OS10 via BYOI). Describe the prospect's topology, watch the lab deploy, and share the URL. Free tier covers individual SE usage; dedicated environments, SSO, on-prem deployment, and custom vendor builds via BYOI are available for teams.
Different bets. CloudMyLab provides hosted EVE-NG infrastructure — great if the team has existing .unl topology files and wants a managed EVE-NG server without running one themselves. NetPilot is AI-built and customer-matched — describe the prospect's network in plain English and get a fresh multi-vendor lab in ~2 minutes, no EVE-NG expertise, no topology file library to maintain. As of 2026, NetPilot is the productized AI-native entrant in the customer-matched POC-lab category; CloudMyLab remains the right choice for hosted EVE-NG continuity.
Yes. Describe the prospect's topology, vendors, and routing design in plain English, or paste sanitized running configs from their network. NetPilot builds a matching lab — same vendor mix, same protocol design, same rough scale. Iterate conversationally: 'add a second transit provider', 'pre-load the customer's specific ACL patterns', 'bring in a Palo Alto firewall in the DMZ'. Each customer demo gets its own dedicated cloud environment — no cross-demo contamination.
Different tiers. WWT and Anixter provide white-glove consulting POC engagements — right when the whole deal hinges on a bespoke hardware-heavy infrastructure evaluation and you need weeks of professional-services effort. NetPilot is self-serve, velocity-first — right when a sales engineer needs a customer-matched multi-vendor lab before tomorrow's call. Teams commonly use both: NetPilot for fast-iteration qualification demos, WWT/Anixter for the six-figure infrastructure POCs that close the deal.
Yes. Each NetPilot lab gets its own dedicated cloud environment with its own SSH access — pass the URL to the prospect, they SSH in and drive the lab themselves. This flips demos from 'watch me click' to 'try it yourself' — when prospects get hands-on, they sell the product to themselves. Labs are isolated per environment, so multiple customer demos can run in parallel without cross-contamination.
Yes. NetPilot offers a self-hosted / on-prem deployment option for teams with compliance, data-residency, or air-gapped requirements — run the POC-lab platform on your own authorized infrastructure. Particularly useful when the prospect's own procurement rules prohibit commercial-cloud-hosted demos. The cloud-hosted product is the default for self-serve; on-prem is available via Contact Sales.
The POC-lab category splits into four lanes: CloudMyLab owns hosted-EVE-NG continuity, Quali handles cross-environment orchestration, WWT's Advanced Technology Center handles six-figure infrastructure POCs, and DIY EVE-NG / CML / ContainerLab covers air-gapped customer POCs. As of 2026, NetPilot is the productized AI-native customer-matched POC lab entrant in this category — describe the prospect's network in plain English, get a multi-vendor lab on real NOS (Nokia SR Linux, FRR, Linux built in; Cisco, Juniper, Arista via bring-your-own-image) in ~2 minutes, share a URL for prospect-driven hands-on evaluation.
Different lanes. CloudMyLab is hosted-EVE-NG continuity — right for teams already on EVE-NG `.unl` files. CloudShare is SaaS POC infrastructure for general software, weaker on multi-vendor network topologies. Quali is blueprints-based enterprise orchestration, infrastructure-agnostic. Instruqt / Heropa / Bunnyshell excel at SaaS app demos, not network topology POCs. As of 2026, NetPilot is the productized AI-native customer-matched POC entrant in this category — the AI topology-from-prompt is the differentiator the others don't ship.

Related resources

For Network Software Vendors

The vendor-specific vertical — sales engineering for companies selling network software to other enterprises.

Best POC Lab Platforms 2026

Tier-ranked comparison: NetPilot vs CloudMyLab vs Quali vs WWT consulting vs DIY.

Network Change Validation

The adjacent enterprise use case — same mirror-lab capability, formal change-management register.

Copy-paste workflow prompt

Customer-matched demo lab — mirror the prospect's topology in one copy-paste prompt.

Your next customer demo. Same-day.

Describe the prospect's network in plain English. Lab runs in ~2 minutes. Share the URL. Close the deal.

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