Abstract: A method for predictively responding to network management data requests includes populating a memory with prefetched response data based on whether one or more requests matches a predetermined pattern and sending a response including the prefetched response data if a request matches the pattern and if the memory includes response data corresponding to the request. The pattern includes one or more expected requests and the periodicity of the one or more expected requests. The response data includes information prefetched from at least one subsystem on a managed network device. According to one aspect, the managed network device is configured with a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) agent that responds to requests from a SNMP manager.