DevOps
Abstract:
Traditionally in the enterprise, the development team tested new code in an isolated environment for quality assurance and if requirements were met, released the code to operations for use. The operations team then deployed and main- tained the program from that point on. One of the problems with this “Waterfall Development” approach is that there were traditionally long time intervals between software releases and since the two teams work separately, the development team is not always aware of operational roadblocks that might prevent the program from working smoothly. DevOps is a methodology / approach that consists of integrating developers and operations teams in order to improve collaboration and productivity by automating infrastructure, automating workflows, and continuously measuring application perfor- mance. DevOps is a rapidly emerging and arguably transformational approach to software development and deployment which involves continuous development of new application updates, integrations, extensions, etc. while an app is in deploy- ment rather than during a separate development cycle. This involves a significant shift in the way organizations approach application development/deployment, and may even drive the convergence of development and operations teams. In order to implement DevOps, enterprises are increasingly leveraging emerging configuration management tools and auto- mation platforms that enable them to standardize, configure, and automate deployment of servers and applications, often in Cloud environments. Some of these include “Application Platform-as-a-Service” (aPaaS) to facilitate building applica- tions without the complexity of buying and maintaining the underlying software and infrastructure, Continuous Testing and Integration, and Containers and Infrastructure Automation, a set of tools and methodologies to efficiently deploy and automate application infrastructure. Companies that use DevOps methodologies can repeatedly develop apps, have fewer errors, and allow more time for developers to work on new features and ideas instead of addressing issues associated with manual deployments. As a result, organizations can publish more frequent updates with new features to meet end user requirements, all the while with lower costs attributed to fewer errors and fewer work hours needed for deployment. DevOps practices have seen rapidly increased adoption in the enterprise, with a 20% increase in adoption rates from 54% in 2013 to 74% in 2016 according to market analysts. Does this data tie with what you are seeing in the marketplace, and do you expect this trend to continue? What are the major inhibitors to continued DevOps adoption? Is integration across the app and infrastructure tiers one of those key challenges? Do you expect the processes associated with DevOps (development, deployment, testing, integration, etc.) to be increasingly automated over time? Do containerization platforms / methodologies represent the future of app development / deployment? If so, how will this change the way in which enterprises can deploy apps in DevOps environments? Will we see continued movement towards application-focused PaaS solutions, or “aPaaS,” and how will these solu- tions fit within the broader DevOps ecosystem? A number of Cloud service providers have launched application development solutions, as have traditional IT incum- bents. Emerging IoT players are also focused on the app development layer. Lastly, a number of well-funded pri- vately held vendors are attacking the opportunity in various ecosystem areas. How do you see this vendor ecosys- tem playing out over time – who are the winners going to be long term? Is there room for additional companies in the DevOps space to emerge as public companies, or will the lion’s share of emerging vendors in the sector be consolidated into the larger tech platforms? Discussion Topics: Please introduce yourself and take a minute to express some high level views on today’s discussion.
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs