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Author: miles blatstein

  • Winning the game with devops at Gameforge

    Winning the game with devops at Gameforge

    Gameforge is a leading game developer of free-to-play massive online multiplayer (MMO) style games.  It provides over 20 games to 450 million registered users on more than 20,000 servers worldwide.  As Gameforge continues to grow, the challenges with server maintenance and communication between developers and system administrators continues to increase.  I recently spoke with Felix Oechsler, Lead Windows System Administrator to look at the ways Gameforge is overcoming those challenges utilizing DevOps tools and methodology.

    I thought it would be interesting to capture the implementation of DevOps at a gaming company since I haven’t seen much on gaming here at devopsy.kinsta.cloud, so I took it upon myself to speak with Felix.

    As a sys admin, there are two main systems at Gameforge, the windows and linux systems.  Felix’s focus is on managing the servers and his job summary includes server upkeep, security, performance management, log data, and to oversee the health of the servers.  When I asked Felix how Gameforge came to use DevOps, he told me that it started 2 years ago on a project they were working on.  Many issues arose because the communication between the system administrators and developers was not efficient in regards to dumps and data logs.  When an error had occurred they needed to inform the developers and then manually hand the data from the server over to the developer team to fix the issues.  This took away valuable time from Felix and his fellow sys admins, and also caused various security issues, since they could not give server access to the developers.  Realizing the teams needed a way to interact more efficiently and effectively they asked the simple question, how can we do this better?

    “We needed a better log management solution to quickly and easily troubleshoot issues before our gamers noticed any problems in the games or systems.  We also wanted an all-in-one solution that would be easy to use and manage across our different departments.”

    -Felix Oechsler, Lead Windows System Adminstrator, Gameforge

    Alas! Devops to the rescue!

    Felix’s team began to implement devops tools and best practices such as Graylog’s centralized log management platform.  This allowed developers to see the logs in one centralized location without involving the sysadmins to comb through the logs to deliver the data to the developers, freeing up valuable time of sysadmins and minimizing security issues.  Graylog helps to deliver 5 beneficial uses including user access management, intuitive search and filtering, visualizations, alerting, and flexible log data extraction.  Explanations on each of these can be found here, a case study done by Graylog.

    “My development team created our own streams and set alerts for the games we were working on. We’re able to get real time alerts on critical errors in games and applications so we can react faster than before. In one case, our mobile game team received an alert that our connection to the Apple payment system was down. We were able to resolve the problem quickly and avoided the bad user experience of a payment not going through.”

    – Dennis Simon, Lead Developer, Gameforge

    Gameforge also begun using key performance indicators (KPIs), Graphite and Grafana, to see how the applications are performing, such as high CPU costs.  Using both Graylog and the KPIs, developers were able to continuous deploy updates to the games without involving the sysadmins, cutting down on time and cost, and effectively creating a better playing environment for their gamers.  Gameforge has developed their own personal, customized continuous deployment platform using C# and powershare to code the mechanism.  They decided to develop the platform in-house to best fit their structure and security policies.

    Since Gameforge has begun implementing devops tools and best practices they have seen great beneficial change.

    “We now monitor our entire server environment with Graylog and have total visibility, enabling us to search for internal application problems across multiple backend servers. Also, our Developers and DevOps people rely on Graylog’s alerting functionality to react to critical errors in our games or applications.  Using Graylog, we are able to provide a better user experience for our gamers. Our reaction time is much faster than before, and our players experience less outages and other error-related problems.”

    – Felix Oechsler, Lead Windows System Administrator, Gameforge

    Using DevOps, Gameforge has freed up valuable time for the system administrators and provided immense visibility to the development teams.  Visibility provides quick access to alerts on errors, allowing problems to be fixed quicker and pushed live via a continuous deployment environment.  It is safe to say that devops is a valuable methodology for system administrators and developers alike.

  • IDI Announces Beta Release of its Advanced Data Analytics Platform – idiCORE

    IDI, Inc. (NYSE MKT: IDI), an information solutions provider, today announced that it is in the process of releasing its beta version of idiCORE™ to select customers. Built upon a cloud-based infrastructure, advanced systems architecture, a massive data repository, and proprietary linking technology, IDI’s advanced data analytics platform creates actionable intelligence from disparate data.

    Designed to be data and industry agnostic, idiCORE’s initial applications will be in support of the risk management industry’s rapidly growing need for fast, accurate, and cost-effective information solutions to power due diligence efforts, risk assessment, fraud detection and prevention, authentication, and more. The release of idiCORE is expected to rapidly accelerate the company’s growth into additional segments of the market, including government, financial services, law enforcement, insurance, and corporate risk. Additionally, IDI’s cross-functional platform ingests and fuses demographic, behavioral, ethnographic and other relevant data in support of the consumer marketing industry.

    idiCORE is developed by IDI’s Seattle-based technology team, led by Chief Science Officer and data fusion pioneer Ole Poulsen, representing decades of data engineering and systems architecture experience, hailing from such well known organizations as Microsoft, Boeing, Cray, and Disney.

    Derek Dubner, Co-CEO of IDI, stated, “This beta release of idiCORE represents a significant milestone for the company. We believe this early-stage offering already surpasses current industry solutions in terms of speed, efficiency, and raw processing power. As we continue to fuse additional datasets with each phased release, we expect idiCORE to rapidly grow to be the industry standard. We remain committed to providing products that address the core needs of our customers – speed, accuracy, depth of data and insight, and price, regardless of the specific industry in which our technology is applied.”

    IDI expects to expand its beta release of idiCORE into 2016, with a full market rollout planned for Q1 2016.

    About IDI, Inc.

    IDI, Inc. is an information solutions provider focused on the multi-billion dollar data fusion market. IDI delivers otherwise unattainable insight into the ever-expanding universe of consumer- and business-centric data. Through proprietary linking technology, advanced systems architecture, and a massive data repository, IDI addresses the rapidly growing need for actionable intelligence to support the risk management industry, for purposes including due diligence, risk assessment, fraud detection and prevention, authentication and verification, and more. Additionally, IDI’s cross-functional core systems and processes are designed to deliver products and solutions to the marketing industry and to enable the public and private sectors to layer our solutions over their unique data sets, providing otherwise unattainable insight.

    RELATED LINKS: www.ididata.com

    FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

    This press release contains “forward-looking statements,” as that term is defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA), which statements may be identified by words such as “expects,” “plans,” “projects,” “will,” “may,” “anticipate,” “believes,” “should,” “intends,” “estimates,” and other words of similar meaning. Such forward looking statements include statements about whether idiCORE is expected to rapidly accelerate the company’s growth into additional segments of the market, whether idiCORE represents a significant milestone for the company, whether idiCORE already surpasses current industry solutions in terms of speed, efficiency and raw processing power, whether we are building what we believe to be the most advanced and robust investigative system in the market and whether idiCORE will rapidly grow to be the industry standard. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are based on our expectations as of the date of this press release and speak only as of the date of this press release and are advised to consider the factors listed above together with the additional factors under the heading “Forward-Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, as may be supplemented or amended by the Company’s Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other SEC filings. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

  • Afero Launches Platform to Securely Connect the Internet of Things, in the Home and Beyond

    LOS ALTOS, Calif., Dec. 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Today, mobile and hardware veterans from Google, Apple, and Nestunveiled Afero, the platform that brings a higher level of connectivity and security to the Internet of Things, both inside and outside the home. Led by Joe Britt, formerly an engineering director at Google Android and co-founder of Danger (makers of the T-Mobile Sidekick smartphone that wasacquired by Microsoft), the Afero team has spent nearly two years developing a platform that includes integrated hardware, software, and cloud services for IoT connectivity and data analytics. The company is now launching to the public and announcing its collaboration with Murata, Infocom, and Bandai.

    Afero, the platform that brings a higher level of connectivity and security to the Internet of Things, both inside and outside the home.

    “We firmly believe that 2016 will be the year that begins to connect the world – not just the home,” said Afero CEO Joe Britt. “Bringing new intelligence to products and services that reach billions of people will change lives in ways we can’t yet imagine. But it will take a sophisticated, comprehensive, and secure platform to allow us to get to that point safely. That’s what we created with Afero.”

    Accelerating the Reality of IoT Connected Products
    Afero is a secure, end-to-end IoT platform that unlocks smart capabilities for any product in virtually any industry. The platform incorporates a secure Bluetooth® Smart module, scalable cloud services, mobile apps, and a range of development tools. Afero reduces the complexity of IoT development and provides a secure connection between devices and the cloud, allowing companies and developers to deliver innovations to the burgeoning marketplace faster.

    The Internet of Things has been called the next Industrial Revolution, with the potential to radically transform how businesses, governments, and everyday people interact with the physical world. By 2020, it is expected that there will be 50 to 100 billion connected devices. While this explosion in smart devices creates new possibilities for businesses to build breakthrough products that improve people’s lives, the industry is also fragmented and open to security risks.

    Security was a primary impetus behind the creation of Afero and is deeply woven throughout the platform’s architecture. The team developed advanced, patent-pending authentication and encryption technologies to ensure that no data can be accessed maliciously from any device or gateway point on the platform.

    Afero combines connectivity and security at the three key touch points for all connected devices:

    1. The product, through an embedded, secure radio module
    2. The mobile phone, through app-level monitoring and control
    3. The cloud, through web APIs

    This complete platform accelerates the creation of connected devices by minimizing the investment normally required for software development and testing, while ensuring a secure and scalable solution.

    To date, some of the world’s largest companies, spanning various industries, have chosen Afero to build cloud-connected products and services. Current partners include Bandai, one of the world’s largest makers of toys and video games, andInfocom, the leader in healthcare IT systems and operation management services.

    Additionally, Afero is working Murata Manufacturing Co. — the global leader in the design and manufacturing of electronic components for companies like Samsung and Apple — to manufacture the Afero ASR-1 module, a secure Bluetooth® Smart module.

    Unlike other Internet of Things platforms, Afero is pure-play and does not build products that compete with its partners. That way, the platform remains an agnostic yet inclusive ecosystem that connects the smartest things in the world.

    The Afero team has spent decades working at some of the world’s most innovative places like Apple, Google, Nest, Amazon, Netflix, Twitter, and Microsoft. At Afero, they have joined forces to provide everyone, from individual developers to large corporations, the ability to quickly and easily leverage the Internet of Things, so that their partners can focus on building the products and services that they most care about.

    For more information on Afero and its IoT platform solution, click here:www.afero.io

    About Afero
    Created by mobile and hardware veterans from Google, Apple, Nest, Amazon, Twitter, and Netflix, Afero is a comprehensive and secure platform for cloud-connected devices in any industry. The Afero turnkey architecture incorporates a secure Bluetooth® Smart module, scalable cloud services, and a range of development tools that enable companies and developers to quickly prototype and build connected devices, then gather meaningful analytics. Afero connects your smart devices and enables them to work together. Afero empowers entrepreneurs and companies to improve the way people communicate with each other and everything around them.

    Photo – http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151216/296570

    To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/afero-launches-platform-to-securely-connect-the-internet-of-things-in-the-home-and-beyond-300193966.html

    SOURCE: Afero

  • CloudBees Appoints Brad Johnson as Vice President, Product Marketing

    SAN JOSE, Calif.–(Business Wire)–CloudBees, the Enterprise Jenkins Company and continuous delivery (CD) leader, today announced the appointment of Brad Johnson as vice president of product marketing. Johnson brings to CloudBees more than 16 years of product marketing experience, along with deep technical expertise and a passion for emerging technologies. In his role, Johnson will be responsible for product messaging and positioning for the CloudBees Jenkins Platform and executing the overall go-to-market strategy.

    Prior to joining CloudBees, Johnson spent five years as vice president of product marketing and business development at SOASTA. Before serving in that role, Johnson spent two years as vice president of strategic alliances, where he established SOASTA’s key distribution and technology partnerships. Johnson has also held positions as senior director of product marketing at Borland and product marketing director at Mercury Interactive.

    “Brad’s success in driving products to market, identifying new opportunities and exploiting competitive gaps will be hugely beneficial for CloudBees and our customers,” said Sacha Labourey, founder and CEO, CloudBees. “As we continue to rapidly grow our Jenkins-based business and accelerate our strong position in the DevOps market, Brad is a valuable addition to the executive team.”

    “CloudBees has already established a leadership position in the continuous delivery market and I am driven to help us take our success to the next level,” said Johnson. “I am pleased to be a part of the CloudBees team and excited by the opportunity we have in front of us.”

    About CloudBees
    CloudBees (www.cloudbees.com), the Enterprise Jenkins Company, is the continuous delivery (CD) leader. CloudBees provides solutions that enable DevOps teams to respond rapidly to the software delivery needs of the business. Building on the strength of Jenkins, the world’s most popular open source continuous delivery hub and ecosystem, the CloudBees Jenkins Platform provides a wide range of CD solutions that meet the unique security, scalability and manageability needs of enterprises. The CloudBees Jenkins Platform supports many of the world’s largest and most business-critical deployments.

    Backed by Matrix Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Verizon Ventures, CloudBees was founded in 2010 by former JBoss CTO Sacha Labourey and an elite team of continuous integration, continuous delivery and DevOps professionals. Follow CloudBees on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+.

    PAN Communications
    Katelyn Campbell / Gaby Berkman, +1-617-502-4300
    cloudbees@pancomm.com

  • Graylog Helps Gameforge Transform DevOps Success Into Happy Gamers

    HOUSTON, TX–(Marketwired – Dec 15, 2015) – Graylog, Inc., the company behind the popular Graylog open source log management platform, today announced that Gameforge, a leading provider of free-to-play and MMO games, is using Graylog to help accelerate the evolution of its online gaming platform. The popular open source platform is enabling Gameforge’s development team to harness log data to quickly pinpoint application issues, leading to fewer performance issues, faster release cycles, better collaboration between Dev and Ops teams, and happier gamers. For more information, please read the full Gameforge case study at: www.graylog.org/customers/gameforge/

    Click to Tweet: .@Gameforge uses @graylog2 #OpenSource #logmanagement platform to transform #DevOps success into happy #MMO gamershttp://bit.ly/1QoIotz

    Graylog is helping Gameforge’s application developers and system administrators manage more than 20 games being delivered across more than 2,000 servers. The provider of client-based games such as the award-winning AION Free-to-Play, TERA: Fate of Arun, Metin2 (Europe’s most successful MMO), HEX: Shards of Fate, Orcs Must Die! Unchained, Runes of Magic, Elsword and Wizard101 recently announced a strategic expansion into the North American game publishing market. As Gameforge expands its business, Graylog helps cross functional teams work more efficiently to better support business, platform, and gamer community growth.

    “We needed a better log management solution to quickly and easily troubleshoot issues before our gamers noticed any problems in the games or systems,” said Felix Oechsler, Lead Windows System Administrator at Gameforge. “We also wanted an all-in-one solution that would be easy to use and manage across our different departments.”

    Gameforge chose Graylog for five reasons:

    1. User access management – Developers no longer need server access to work with log data and there is no concern about security policy violations.
    2. Intuitive search and filtering – Eliminates the need to manually search through log data on multiple servers.
    3. Dashboard visualization – Makes it easier to spot anomalies in the 10 million event messages being processed daily.
    4. Alerting – Real-time alerts on critical errors such as the payment system in the game server.
    5. Flexible log data extraction – Graylog’s web interface wizard creates extractors to pull firewall, DNS, and Java/Glassfish data instead of writing custom message inputs and parsers for each unique data source.

    Graylog is now used to monitor Gameforge’s entire server environment, “This gives us total visibility and enables us to search for internal application problems across multiple backend servers. Also, our Developers and DevOps people rely on Graylog’s alerting functionality to react to critical errors in our games and applications.”

    “Graylog’s open source platform is shaving hours off of Gameforge’s application incident response workflows,” said Michael Sklar, CEO of Graylog. “We are proud to play a role in freeing them up to focus on other priorities such as their recent North American expansion and releasing awesome games for the more than 450+ million gamers.”

    About Gameforge

    With a portfolio of more than 20 titles and over 450 million registered players, Gameforge is the leading provider of free-to-play massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) in the Western hemisphere. Headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany, the group offers its online games in more than 75 countries. Its portfolio includes client-based games such as the award winning AION Free-to-Play, TERA: Fate of Arun, Metin2 — Europe’s most successful MMO — HEX: Shards of Fate, Orcs Must Die! Unchained, Runes of Magic, Elsword and Wizard101. Plus browser-based games such as the ever popular classics OGame and Ikariam as well as a growing portfolio of mobile games. Gameforge employs 450 members of staff. For more information please visit:http://corporate.gameforge.com/.

    About Graylog

    Graylog provides service and support for the open source Graylog solution which stores, searches and analyzes machine data collected from IT infrastructures and applications. The company enables organizations, at a fraction of the cost, to improve IT operations efficiency, security and reduce the cost of IT. Graylog is based in Houston, Texas. For more information visit: www.graylog.org.

    For more information, contact:
    Betsey Rogers
    Public Relations
    BridgeView Marketing
    603-886-7087
    betsey@bridgeviewmarketing.com

  • Red Hat Accepting Speaking Proposals for Red Hat Summit 2016

    Proposals for 12th annual Red Hat Summit accepted through Jan. 11, 2016; Red Hat Summit to take place in San Francisco, June 28 – July 1

    RALEIGH, N.C.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT), the world’s leading provider of open source solutions, today announced that speaking proposals are being accepted for Red Hat Summit 2016, the industry’s premier open source technology event. The 12th annual Red Hat Summit is scheduled to take place June 28 – July 1, 2016 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Red Hat Summit has become a must-attend event for open source technology, with customers, partners, and open source industry leaders from around the world coming together for a high-energy week of innovation, education, and collaboration.

    “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”

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    Attendees at Red Hat Summit 2016 will hear keynotes from some of the biggest names in technology and will have opportunities to network while also attending hands-on training and labs, interactive sessions, live demos, panels, and partner showcases. Red Hat Summit will feature something for everyone, with expert-led sessions geared towards different roles and industries.

    At Red Hat Summit 2016, attendees will hear about technology innovations that are transforming enterprise technology. Red Hat is accepting proposals for the event on a wide range of topics, including: application development; big data; cloud computing; containers; DevOps; hybrid IT infrastructure; the Internet of Things (IoT); Linux platforms; management; middleware; mobile; storage; virtualization; and more.

    The deadline to submit speaking proposals is Jan. 11, 2016. Selected speakers will be notified in March 2016.

    Additional Resources

    Connect with Red Hat

    About Red Hat, Inc.

    Red Hat is the world’s leading provider of open source software solutions, using a community-powered approach to reliable and high-performing cloud, Linux, middleware, storage and virtualization technologies. Red Hat also offers award-winning support, training, and consulting services. As a connective hub in a global network of enterprises, partners, and open source communities, Red Hat helps create relevant, innovative technologies that liberate resources for growth and prepare customers for the future of IT. Learn more at http://www.redhat.com.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: risks related to the ability of the Company to compete effectively; the ability to deliver and stimulate demand for new products and technological innovations on a timely basis; delays or reductions in information technology spending; the effects of industry consolidation; the integration of acquisitions and the ability to market successfully acquired technologies and products; uncertainty and adverse results in litigation and related settlements; the inability to adequately protect Company intellectual property and the potential for infringement or breach of license claims of or relating to third party intellectual property; risks related to data and information security vulnerabilities; ineffective management of, and control over, the Company’s growth and international operations; fluctuations in exchange rates; and changes in and a dependence on key personnel, as well as other factors contained in our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (copies of which may be accessed through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov), including those found therein under the captions “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic and political conditions, governmental and public policy changes and the impact of natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company’s views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company’s views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

    Red Hat and Red Hat Enterprise Linux are trademarks of Red Hat, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Linux® is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries.

    Contacts

    Red Hat, Inc.
    Emily Stancil Martinez, +1-919-301-3010
    emartinez@redhat.com

  • Sumo Logic Demonstrates Integration with Docker Platform as Part of New Docker Ecosystem Technology Partner (ETP) Program for Logging

    REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – Dec. 15, 2015 – Sumo Logic, a leading cloud-native data analytics service, today announced that it has been recognized by Docker as an Ecosystem Technology Partner (ETP) for logging. This designation indicates that the Sumo Logic platform, which includes the Sumo Logic Collector and Application for Docker, provides logging data  to users and organizations that seek solutions for monitoring  their Docker containerized applications.

    “Sumo Logic’s cloud-native data analytics platform coupled with its  out of box dashboards for Docker enable development and operations teams to analyze, troubleshoot, and perform root cause analysis of logging data from Dockerized distributed applications,” said Scott Johnston, senior vice president of product management for Docker. “The ability to scale on-demand and apply machine-learning algorithms provides great benefits for the Docker community who are looking for log analytics and monitoring solutions for Docker application environments.”

    In addition, today Sumo Logic released an enhanced version of its Collector and Application for Docker. The Sumo Logic Collector for Docker allows DevOps teams to easily collect any data from the Docker infrastructure and the applications running within the container to quickly identify and resolve critical issues. Some of the new enhancements include

    • Unified collection and aggregation of Docker events, stats, and container logs

    • Automated metadata mapping to allow easy organization and search of data

    • Out-of-box operational dashboards and search queries to help enable Docker monitoring, troubleshooting, and root-cause analysis

    “Application architectures continue to evolve, driving the adoption for Docker technology as it provides the ideal environment to build, deploy and operate applications across distributed systems,” said Bruno Kurtic, vice president of product and strategy, for Sumo Logic. “The volume and complexity of data generated by these environments makes monitoring and troubleshooting a significant challenge for DevOps teams. The new features in our enhanced Sumo Logic Collector and Application for Docker makes it easier than ever for the Docker community to leverage machine data analytics to get intelligent insights into the Docker infrastructure.”

    Docker’s ETP program recognizes ecosystem partners that have demonstrated integration with the Docker platform. As part of the program, Docker will highlight a capability area within the application lifecycle, validate integration and communicate the availability of the partner’s solution to the community and the market. The goal of the program is to ensure that organizations offering logging tools have been working with Docker to ensure highest degree of availability and performance of distributed applications. Partners included in this program have proven integration with the Docker platform and have demonstrated that their solution is able to record logging data for dockerized applications.

    For more information please visit https://www.sumologic.com/application/docker/.

    Additional Resources

    • Learn more about the Sumo Logic Collector and Application for Docker

    • Sign up for a free trial of Sumo Logic

    About Sumo Logic

    Sumo Logic is a secure, cloud-native, data analytics service, delivering real-time, continuous intelligence across an organization’s entire infrastructure and application stack. More than 700 customers around the globe experience real-time operational, business and customer insights using Sumo Logic for their DevOps, IT ops and security and compliance use cases. With Sumo Logic, customers gain a service-model advantage to accelerate their shift to continuous innovation, increasing competitive advantage, business value and growth.

    Founded in 2010, Sumo Logic is a privately held company based in Redwood City, CA and is backed by Greylock Partners, DFJ, IVP, Sutter Hill Ventures, Accel Partners and Sequoia Capital. For more information, visit www.sumologic.com.

  • Flux7 New Cloud Infrastructure and DevOps Coaching Solution Helps Enterprises Transition and Prepare for IT Modernization

    Flux7 New Cloud Infrastructure and DevOps Coaching Solution Helps Enterprises Transition and Prepare for IT Modernization

    ‘Engage’ helps IT teams gain hands-on experience for long-term agility, while building cloud infrastructure

    December 1, 2015 – Austin, TX – Flux7, an IT consultancy providing cloud architecture and migration services and solutions to help businesses modernize their IT practices, today announced the release of ‘Engage’. Engage is the first service designed by professional educators and experienced cloud architects that helps enterprises progress their cloud migration and transition to a DevOps model, while coaching IT and development teams to help ensure modern IT knowledge and practices are internalized for long-term business agility.

    Flux7 pushes for enterprise teams to own and manage their infrastructures, because having a third-party in the delivery path defeats the idea of DevOps. Efficient development of technologies requires tight collaboration between Dev and Ops and both sides having knowledge of each other. The best way to adopt DevOps is to internalize the expertise into the enterprise fabric. Engage is designed to achieve exactly that: help companies build an internal DevOps practice.

    Engage mirrors the cloud and DevOps coaching program that new Flux7 engineers receive. Advised by a senior Flux7 solution architect, engineers from the customer’s IT and development teams complete education and cloud deployment projects with personalized guidance and management over a period of four-eight weeks, depending on the size of the project, working only 2-3 hours per day with Flux7. The customer’s engineers complete tasks, while their progress is monitored by Fux7 project managers, and their technical questions are answered by Flux7’s subject matter experts during office hours. As a result, after completing an Engage project, enterprises gain the long-term agility of a highly-trained internal IT team skilled in cloud architecture and a Dev team skilled in Agile and DevOps methodologies, such as continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD).

    “DevOps is not a subject matter, but a mindset. Thus, we prefer the coaching route over traditional training. An analogy we use is from cooking: To be a professional chef, you have to first work inside the chef’s kitchen, observing operations, doing things yourself and receiving guidance and critique,” said Aater Suleman, CEO of Flux7 and professor of computer design and architecture at the University of Texas at Austin. “Engage is about learning DevOps the same way. We’ve always been committed to providing the tools and infrastructure to help businesses manage their own IT. Now, Engage will help businesses internalize that knowledge about the best tools for DevOps, such as cloud, Docker, Ansible, Jenkins and others.”

    Engage meets the needs of enterprises who are seeking to modernize their infrastructure and evolve the skills of their IT and Development teams, enhancing their existing workforce and reducing the need for hiring new staff. By internalizing cloud and DevOps knowledge and enabling enterprises to build their own DevOps practice within their organization, Engage aims to improve success rates for independently managing modern infrastructure post-deployment.

    Drawing on principles of effective instruction and best practices from academia and professional development, Engage includes best practices learned from hundreds of cloud architecture projects delivered by Flux7’s certified engineers and AWS and DevOps experts. The Engage process and progress is defined collaboratively, based on customer goals and challenges specific to their business. The first company to complete Flux7’s new Engage solution was Consumer Direct, the creator of a leading edge platform integrating consumers with their banks, creditors and other institutions.

    “We had a great experience in being apart of Flux7’s new Engage solution, and it’s ended up to be a win for both parties,” said Chris Peery, CTO of Consumer Direct. “Flux7’s experience in IT modernization, PCI compliance and best practices impressed us. The coaching was hands-on from the assessment all the way through implementation, and our team is very confident in moving forward being able to manage our architecture internally.”

    Unlike other cloud consulting groups, Flux7 emphasizes the transfer of cloud-based infrastructure knowledge to internal IT teams, helping them become self-sustaining and improving their agility. By sharing the Flux7 tool chain, intellectual property (IP) and training methodology, the company helps build tomorrow’s DevOps engineers.

    Flux7 is one of the first consulting organizations to achieve the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Partner Network (APN) DevOps Competency. Launched during the Global Partner Summit at AWS re:Invent 2015, the new competency demonstrates Flux7’s proven success helping businesses be more efficient and agile leveraging the AWS platform and DevOps principles, particularly around CI and CD, as well as configuration management.

    To learn more about how Flux7’s Engage solution helps businesses internalize cloud architecture and DevOps knowledge to achieve successful self-sustaining cloud management, see this link.

     

    ABOUT FLUX7

    Flux7 architects cloud infrastructure frameworks that help businesses to modernize and optimize their IT systems, bridging the gap between a managed environment and independent system management. We enable companies in a wide variety of industries around the world to quickly create production-ready, secure, compliant and highly scalable environments by using automation, DevOps and best practices from hundreds of implementations. Unlike other cloud consulting groups, Flux7 emphasizes the transfer of knowledge to internal IT teams, helping them to become self-sustaining and improving their agility. For more information, please visit http://flux7.com.

    Media Contact:

    Rose Begonia

    rose@flux7.com

    844-358-9700