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Ørsted’s firewall automation project paired faster rule-change workflows with controls intended to make compliance part of the process. Network to Code describes a Nautobot-based workflow that validates requests, represents security policies as code and gives auditors a trusted source of truth. The available descriptions say automated changes replaced work that could take days or weeks, but provide no measured time savings for Ørsted.
What Ørsted automated
The project focused on firewall rule changes at Ørsted, a renewable energy company operating in a regulated energy environment. Network to Code links Nautobot to a workflow designed to validate change requests, manage security policies as code and maintain an auditor-oriented source of truth.
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That framing matters: the aim was not simply to push configuration to a firewall more quickly. The workflow was described as bringing policy checks and an audit record into the change process, so speed and compliance were addressed together.
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Validate requests before changes
Request validation is one reported element of the workflow. In practice, validation can help identify incomplete or unacceptable requests before they become firewall changes. The available description does not specify the exact validation rules, who approved requests, or which checks blocked deployment.
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Represent security policy as code
Network to Code says the workflow represented security policies as code. This makes policy part of a structured, reviewable process rather than relying only on manual interpretation of a request. The source does not detail the policy model or how it was tested against Ørsted’s firewall environment.
Keep an auditor-facing source of truth
The workflow was also described as providing auditors with a trusted source of truth. That is a distinct compliance benefit: records of intended policy and change activity can support review, although the available account does not describe the specific records retained or the audit controls used.
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What is known about the implementation
A Packet Protector episode listing dated July 14, 2026 describes João Soares, a network automation engineer whose formal title is Lead IT Security Consultant, discussing the project’s progression from proof of concept to production. The listing names ServiceNow, Nautobot, Palo Alto firewalls, Terraform, Ansible, GitHub Actions and Azure DevOps among the episode topics.
Those names establish the scope of the conversation, not that every technology was part of the deployed workflow. The listing does not specify deployment scale, the number of firewalls, request volumes, approval gates or which components were used in production. Network to Code’s description is the source that directly associates Nautobot with the workflow.
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How much faster were changes?
Network to Code contrasts the automated workflow with firewall changes that had taken days or weeks. That is a qualitative description, not an Ørsted-specific measured before-and-after result. The available material gives no baseline, sample size, measurement period or percentage reduction, so it does not support a precise speed claim.
The defensible conclusion is that the workflow was intended to make firewall changes faster while integrating validation and auditability. Quantifying the improvement would require project data that is not stated in the available descriptions.
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What to evaluate when applying this approach
Organizations considering similar automation can assess the following without assuming Ørsted used any particular control or achieved a particular result:
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- Pre-change validation: Define which request details and policy conditions must be checked before a change proceeds.
- Audit trail and source of truth: Determine how requested, approved and deployed policy changes will be recorded and reviewed.
- Ticketing and approvals: Map how change requests and human approval fit with automation.
- Firewall compatibility: Confirm that the chosen workflow supports the organization’s firewall estate and policy model.
- Human control: Decide which steps can run automatically and where review or approval is required.
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