Bob Friday, Chief AI Officer for HPE Networking, discusses how federal agencies are rethinking network modernization in the face of rising complexity, new security demands, and the accelerating influence of AI. Friday shares what he’s hearing from federal IT leaders about their most urgent challenges—cloud migration hurdles, stringent security requirements like FedRAMP and FIPS, and the staffing constraints shaping today’s modernization efforts. He also breaks down the technology trends driving HPE’s approach, including the shift to real-time AI-ops, the organizational changes required to fully leverage agentic AI, and how HPE’s acquisition of Juniper Networks strengthens the push toward a “self-driving network.”