Your Newest Team Member is an AI: Introducing the Altostrat SDX Agent

How much time does your team spend on routine network inquiries? Digging for a free IP address, checking the status of a specific device, or pulling up a configuration file, these are necessary tasks, but they are also time-consuming distractions that pull your experts away from high-value projects.

What if you could get instant, accurate answers to these questions just by asking? What if you had an assistant who knew your entire network, understood your requests in plain English, and could perform real-time diagnostics on command?

Today, we’re introducing that assistant. Meet the Altostrat SDX Agent, a powerful new AI copilot integrated directly into your SDX dashboard. This is more than a chatbot; it’s an intelligent agent with a direct, real-time connection to your network infrastructure, ready to become the most efficient member of your team.

From Questions to Answers, Instantly

With the new AI button in your SDX menu, you now have a direct line to an expert that never sleeps. Simply open the chat and ask it anything about your network.

Imagine typing questions like:

"Do I have any free IPs in the DHCP pool at the head office?"

"Are there any active VPN users on the Cape Town router right now?"

"Show me the configuration backups for all my branch sites."

"What is the hardware model of the router at our warehouse?"

Instead of navigating through menus, logging into individual devices, or running manual commands, you get a clear, concise answer in seconds.

How Does It Work? The Power of Secure, Read-Only Tools

Our AI Agent is not just a language model; it’s an agentic AI. This means it has a secure toolkit of specialized functions that allow it to interact with your live network data. When you ask a question, the agent intelligently selects the right tool for the job, executes it, and interprets the results for you.

For example, when you ask about free IPs, the agent:

Understands the Intent: It recognizes "head office" and knows you're asking about a specific site.

Selects a Tool: It chooses the mikroTikSyncApi tool to run a live command.

Executes Securely: It sends a read-only command (/ip/dhcp-server/lease/print) to the correct MikroTik router in real-time.

Analyzes the Output: It parses the technical data returned by the router.

Delivers a Human-Readable Answer: It presents you with a simple, clear response: "Yes, you have 14 free IP addresses available in the head office DHCP pool."

Crucially, this entire process is read-only and completely secure. The agent operates within the permissions of your user account, and its current toolkit is focused entirely on troubleshooting and data retrieval, ensuring it can never make unauthorized changes to your network.

More Than Just a Q&A Bot

The Altostrat SDX Agent is a versatile copilot designed to accelerate your daily operations.

Real-Time Troubleshooting:
Ask the agent to run a ping test from a remote site to 8.8.8.8 or to check for active network faults. It can perform live diagnostics, helping you identify and resolve issues faster than ever before.

Instant Network Discovery:
Need to find all the Canon printers on your network? The agent can use its macVendorLookup tool to scan ARP tables and identify devices by manufacturer, turning hours of manual work into a single question.

Configuration Analysis:
Ask the agent to compare the firewall rules between two different sites. It will fetch the configuration backups for both, analyze the contents, and highlight the differences for you.

The Future is Automated: From Agent to Workflow Architect

This is just the beginning. Today, the SDX Agent is your expert troubleshooter and network analyst. Soon, it will evolve into your automation partner.

Our vision is to empower the agent to not just answer questions, but to take action. In the near future, you'll be able to ask it to:

Create Automation Workflows: "When a WAN link fails at any branch, run a traceroute, log the results, and notify the on-call team in Slack."

Schedule Complex Scripts: "Every Friday at 5 PM, back up the configurations for all my retail locations and verify their integrity."

The agent will learn to translate your plain-English instructions into powerful, automated workflows, bringing a new level of intelligence and efficiency to your network operations.

Your AI Copilot is Ready for Duty

The Altostrat SDX Agent is designed to free you from the mundane, accelerate your troubleshooting, and provide instant clarity across your entire network. It’s the expert assistant that empowers your whole team to work smarter, faster, and more effectively.