Automic V26 and the AI Control Plane, Explained
Written by Martin Hulbert, Chief Technology Officer, Ignite Technology
Broadcom has released Automic V26, and it comes with a meaningful shift in how the platform is positioned.
Rather than describing Automic purely as a workload automation and orchestration scheduling tool, Broadcom is now presenting it as an Agentic AI control plane, a single governed layer for coordinating both traditional automated jobs and newer Agentic AI-driven processes across the enterprise.
For IT Directors and CIOs already running Automic, or considering it, this matters because it signals what the platform is being built to do next.
What Is Automic V26?
Automic V26 is the latest release of Broadcom’s Automic Automation platform, the workload automation software formerly known as UC4. As with previous releases, it builds on Automic’s existing job scheduling, dependency management and governance capabilities.
What sets V26 apart is Broadcom’s decision to frame it explicitly around Agentic AI readiness, positioning the platform as infrastructure for coordinating automation in an environment where Agentic AI agents and traditional automated jobs increasingly need to work side by side.
What Does an Agentic AI Control Plane Actually Mean?
The term control plane comes from infrastructure and networking, where it describes the layer that decides how a system behaves, as distinct from the layer that does the work itself.
Applied to Automic, an Agentic AI control plane means the platform is positioned to govern and coordinate automated tasks regardless of whether a human process, a script or an Agentic AI agent initiated them. In practice, that means one place to see what is running, what depends on what and what authorised it to run, rather than Agentic AI-driven activity happening in a separate, harder-to-govern layer alongside traditional automation.
Why This Matters for Regulated and Complex IT Estates
Enterprises with heavy compliance obligations already rely on Automic for auditable, governed job scheduling. Extending that same governance model to Agentic AI-driven processes is a natural fit for the same reasons workload automation matters there in the first place.
As Agentic AI agents start to trigger tasks, request data or kick off workflows, having a single control plane that logs, sequences and governs that activity gives IT and compliance teams a consistent audit trail, rather than a growing set of ungoverned Agentic AI integrations sitting alongside existing systems.
Gartner Recognition and What It Signals for Buyers
Automic’s positioning here is reinforced by independent analyst recognition. Broadcom’s Automic Automation has been consistently named a Leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Service Orchestration and Automation Platforms, the analyst category covering workload automation and orchestration vendors.
For buyers evaluating platforms in this space, that standing is a useful independent signal alongside Broadcom’s own V26 positioning.
What Changes for Teams Already Running Automic
For organisations already running Automic, V26 is an upgrade path rather than a platform change. Existing jobs, schedules and integrations continue to run as before.
The practical decision is when and how to plan the upgrade, and whether to use it as an opportunity to review governance and dependency mapping across the estate, particularly if Agentic AI-driven processes are already being introduced elsewhere in the organisation.
How Ignite Supports Your Automic V26 Upgrade
As a Broadcom Expert Advantage Partner specialising in Automic, Ignite helps organisations plan and deliver Automic upgrades, including the move to V26, alongside the wider workload automation and governance work we already do for regulated and complex IT estates.
That covers assessing your current environment, planning a phased upgrade, and advising on how to extend existing governance practices to cover Agentic AI-driven workloads as they’re introduced.
Your Next Steps
If your organisation is running Automic and weighing up the move to V26, or you want to understand what an Agentic AI control plane means for your environment before deciding, here’s where to go next.
Read more about Automic Workload Automation to see the full range of capabilities Ignite Technoligy supports.
Frequently Asked Questions
Automic V26 is the latest release of Broadcom’s Automic Automation platform, positioned by Broadcom as an Agentic AI control plane for coordinating automated and Agentic AI-driven workloads across the enterprise, building on the platform’s existing workload automation and governance capabilities.
An Agetnic AI control plane is a single governed layer for coordinating and overseeing automated activity, whether it is triggered by a traditional scheduled job or an Agentic AI agent. For Automic, it means bringing Agentic AI-driven processes under the same governance, sequencing and audit model already used for existing automated workloads.
Yes. Broadcom’s Automic Automation has been named a Leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Service Orchestration and Automation Platforms, the analyst category covering workload automation and orchestration vendors.
No. V26 is an upgrade path, not a forced migration, and existing jobs and schedules continue running on earlier supported versions. Most organisations plan their upgrade timeline around a wider review of governance and dependency mapping rather than upgrading immediately on release.
Yes. As a Broadcom Expert Advantage Partner specialising in Automic, Ignite supports the full upgrade process, from assessing your current environment through to planning and delivering the move to V26.
Workload orchestration is the broader discipline of coordinating automated jobs and dependencies across platforms. Automic V26 is Broadcom’s latest step in that direction for its own platform, extending Automic’s role from workload automation into a governed control plane that can coordinate Agentic AI-driven activity as well as traditional automated jobs.