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DevOps Experience 2026: The DevOps Community Confronts the Agentic AI Race

Agentic AI is rapidly entering DevOps pipelines, platform engineering platforms and cloud-native infrastructure. DevOps Experience 2026 brings the community together to decide which tools matter, how they should be governed and what comes next.

The DevOps ecosystem is entering one of its most consequential transitions since the rise of CI/CD.

Across the industry, vendors are racing to introduce agentic AI systems designed to automate DevOps workflows. These systems promise to assist with everything from pipeline orchestration and incident response to infrastructure management and security remediation.

The promise is compelling: faster delivery, less operational toil and smarter automation.

But alongside that promise comes a new set of questions DevOps teams are now actively trying to answer.

Which agentic AI tools should we trust in our pipelines?
 What decisions should those agents actually be allowed to make?
 How do we monitor and govern systems that can operate autonomously?
 And how do we ensure these tools accelerate DevOps instead of introducing new risks?

These are exactly the questions the community will tackle at DevOps Experience 2026, Techstrong’s flagship DevOps event returning for its ninth year.

The free virtual event takes place September 24, 2026, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET, bringing together DevOps practitioners, platform engineers, SREs, developers and technology leaders for a day focused on the rapidly evolving intersection of DevOps and AI-driven automation.

A Race the DevOps Community Needs to Understand

The theme of this year’s event is “Picking the Winner in the Agentic AI Race.”

The analogy is intentional.

Right now, dozens of platforms are entering the market with AI agents promising to run pipelines, monitor systems, respond to incidents and optimize infrastructure. Some focus on development workflows, others on operations or security.

For DevOps teams evaluating these technologies, the challenge is not just technical. It is strategic.

Choosing the right tools today may shape how software is built and operated for years to come.

DevOps Experience 2026 is designed to help teams evaluate these tools and hear directly from practitioners experimenting with them in real environments.

Three Program Segments Focused on the Journey

This year’s program is organized around three thematic segments designed to guide attendees through the evolving agentic AI landscape.

The Starting Gate

The event begins with keynote sessions and analyst insights examining the broader market. Futurum Group analysts and industry experts will provide perspective on where agentic AI is heading and how it is reshaping the DevOps ecosystem.

The Backstretch

Technical sessions then dive into implementation. These presentations explore how organizations are integrating agentic AI into DevOps pipelines, platform engineering platforms and cloud-native infrastructure.

Expect discussions covering CI/CD automation, AI-driven observability, autonomous remediation and operational governance.

The Winner’s Circle

The final segment focuses on real-world results. Case studies and practitioner insights will examine how teams are experimenting with agentic AI tools and what lessons are emerging as organizations move from experimentation to production deployment.

More Than Just Presentations

DevOps Experience has always been designed as a community gathering rather than a traditional conference.

This year’s event will include a variety of interactive programming elements designed to encourage participation and discussion.

Attendees can expect:

  • Futurum analyst sessions and briefings
  • Technical demonstrations 
  • Practitioner roundtables
  • Hands-on learning sessions
  • Virtual networking and hallway track discussions

There will also be giveaways and additional surprises throughout the event.

Registration is free and open to the entire DevOps community.

Call for Speakers: Share What You’re Learning

The DevOps Experience program is built with significant input from the community itself.

The speaker submission period is now open, and practitioners are encouraged to propose sessions that share real-world experiences.

If your team is experimenting with agentic AI, building AI-enabled DevOps workflows or developing governance models for autonomous tooling, this is an opportunity to share those insights with the broader community.

Early-stage ideas are welcome. Submissions do not need to be fully developed presentations. The program committee will review proposals and follow up with selected speakers.

For many speakers, DevOps Experience has become a place to introduce new ideas, share lessons learned and engage directly with the DevOps community.

Sponsors: Join the Conversation

DevOps Experience also offers a unique opportunity for technology providers to engage directly with one of the most active DevOps audiences in the industry.

With thousands of practitioners expected to attend, sponsors can participate through technical sessions, demonstrations and interactive experiences designed to showcase new tools and approaches.

For companies building technologies that support DevOps teams, this event provides a powerful platform to join the broader conversation about the future of DevOps automation.

Join the DevOps Community

Agentic AI is moving quickly from concept to reality.

DevOps teams everywhere are experimenting, evaluating tools and trying to understand how AI-driven automation should fit into modern software delivery.

DevOps Experience 2026 provides a forum for the community to explore these questions together.

You can participate by:

  • Registering to attend
  • Submitting a speaking proposal
  • Joining as a sponsor

Registration for the free event is now open.

Learn more and sign up at:

https://devopsexperience.com

And given the theme of the event, there is one more option.

You might want to send your AI agents to attend as well.



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