IBM Scales DevOps for Large Enterprises with New Hybrid Cloud Solutions

Enterprises such as Nationwide Insurance and Pearson VUE dramatically improve software quality and delivery times

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Nov 20, 2014, 08:00 ET

ARMONK, N.Y., Nov. 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced new, cloud-based DevOps services, software and infrastructure designed to help large organizations develop and deliver quality software faster. By tapping into the collaborative power of IBM's Cloud portfolio and deep business transformation experience, enterprises can speed the delivery of software that drives new models of engagement and business.

Software-driven innovation is becoming a primary approach to how businesses create and deliver new value to customers. A survey of 400 business and IT executives by the IBM Institute for Business Value showed businesses that are more effective at software delivery are also more profitable than their peers nearly 70 percent of the time (1). DevOps provides a way for businesses to remain competitive, applying lean and agile principles to software development to speed the delivery of software that meets new market requirements.

IBM's new DevOps Innovation Services help address the challenge of scaling DevOps, enabling enterprises to transform their software delivery lifecycle. The hybrid cloud services combine IBM's industry expertise from hundreds of organizational change and application development projects with the industry's leading application development portfolio, including Bluemix, IBM's open cloud platform-as-a-service. They also apply the flexibility of IBM's enterprise-grade, hybrid cloud portfolio, which was recently ranked by Synergy Research Group as the leading hybrid and private cloud for the enterprise (2). These services are based upon SoftLayer, IBM's premier cloud infrastructure platform.

Enterprises now have the option of combining on-premise, private and public clouds with the collaborative DevOps capabilities they need to deliver apps faster -- along with the data security, control and integration larger companies need. The new DevOps Innovation Services enable organizations to assess and benchmark their readiness for DevOps and chart a path forward, then address typical bottlenecks in key phases of software delivery, including development, testing, release and deployment and monitoring. IBM also today announced new and enhanced software and services that allow organizations to:

Manage software development with significantly reduced set up time and infrastructure costs using a collaborative lifecycle management (CLM) solution on premise or as managed service in a virtual private cloud.
Extend mainframe development and testing to the cloud with the IBM Rational Development and Test solution, increasing flexibility and capacity, while reducing time, risk and cost. Available on premise or as a managed service in a virtual private cloud.
Enable the rapid design, deployment and update of full-stack, hybrid clouds, plus enhanced capabilities for mainframe deployments using the new IBM UrbanCode Deploy solution.
Free up developers to focus on innovation with the IBM DevOps continuous-delivery pipeline service to automate and schedule the various stages of software deployment to IBM Bluemix.
Continuously monitor user experience with mobile apps in real-time with IBM MobileFirst Quality Assurance services, drawing on analytics to understand user behavior and feedback to drive product improvements.

IDC predicts that by 2015, 60 percent of CIOs will use DevOps as their primary tool to address the speed and sprawl of mobile, cloud and open source applications (3).

"Software success is increasingly indistinguishable from business success," said Kristof Kloeckner, General Manager, IBM Software Group, Rational. "IBM is helping clients harness the collaborative power of the cloud to deliver business outcomes that can compete on the highest levels of agility, speed and collaboration -- regardless of the current size or complexity of the organization."

Nationwide and Pearson Improve Software Quality, Delivery
A new study of 600 IT executives by Forrester Consulting found development teams that consistently deliver software the fastest enjoy the highest level of satisfaction from the business (4).

Nationwide Mutual Insurance, a Fortune 100 company, applied agile and lean principles to develop new products, services and channels of customer engagement. As a result, the company reduced critical software defects by 80 percent, realizing 20 percent efficiency gains in its maintenance and support operations in just 18 months.

"The true value of DevOps is not just in efficiency. We also need to anticipate and adapt to market changes and demands with speed, incorporating feedback more frequently to improve value to customers," said Steve Farley, Vice President, Application Development at Nationwide.

Pearson VUE, an international provider of computer-based exams and testing for academia, government and business organizations, uses software to crunch large volumes of data from millions of administered exams to derive and deliver intelligence to its customers. By collecting data around test-takers' habits, registrations, patterns and more, Pearson VUE uses this feedback to continually improve the test-taking experience, sharpening the accuracy and predictive value of testing results.

"We're continually improving the value and quality of the intelligence we offer organizations around the world, which rely on testing for everything from school admissions to medical licensing," said Guy Speier, senior group manager at Pearson VUE. "A critical component in doing so is building, deploying and continuously improving software with the latest advances in data and analytics. Within just two days of using IBM DevOps solutions, our teams were rolling out innovations five times faster."

Today's announcement builds on IBM's existing DevOps portfolio that offers a comprehensive approach to the lifecycle of software development. Through acquisitions such as UrbanCode and GreenHat, and offering an integrated developer experience on open cloud platforms such as Bluemix to fuel collaboration, IBM DevOps has been at the forefront of continuous software delivery, equipping clients with the tools needed to collapse the time from ideation to market delivery, as well as capture data and insights from users and testing to enable continuous improvement.

About IBM Cloud Computing
IBM is the global leader in cloud with a broad portfolio of open cloud solutions to enable clients for the hybrid cloud era with integration, control over data and expertise. Since the $2 billion acquisition of SoftLayer, IBM has continued to make significant investments in building out a comprehensive cloud portfolio including $1.2 billion to expand its global footprint to 40 data centers and $1 billion investment to establish Bluemix, a cloud platform-as-a-service on Cloud Foundry, to help millions of developers. IBM Cloud has helped more than 30,000 clients around the world. Today, IBM has 100+ cloud SaaS solutions, thousands of experts with deep industry knowledge helping clients transform and a growing global network of data centers. Since 2007, IBM has invested more than $7 billion in 17 acquisitions to accelerate its cloud initiatives. IBM holds 1,560 cloud patents focused on driving innovation. In fact, IBM for the 21st consecutive year topped the annual list of US patent leaders. IBM processes more the 5.5M client transactions daily through IBM's public cloud. For more information about cloud offerings from IBM, visit http://www.ibm.com/cloud. Follow us on Twitter at @IBMcloud and on our blog at www.thoughtsoncloud.com. Join the conversation #ibmcloud.

1. IBM Institute for Business Value, "The software edge: How effective software development and delivery drives competitive advantage," 2013.
2. Synergy Research Group
3. IDC FutureScape: Worldwide CIO Agenda 2015 Predictions, Doc # 252235, October 2014.
4. Forrester Consulting, "The New Software Imperative: Fast Delivery With Quality," October 2014. Study commissioned by IBM.

Contact:
Suzanne Aronowitz
IBM Media Relations
617-693-1811
[email protected]

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SOURCE IBM