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Tag: perforce

  • Perforce Commits to Building Agentic AI Fabric for DevOps Workflows

    Perforce Commits to Building Agentic AI Fabric for DevOps Workflows

    Perforce Software this week committed to building an agentic artificial intelligence (AI) framework that will be embedded across its entire portfolio of DevOps tools and platforms.

    Company CTO Anjali Arora said Perforce Intelligence will provide access to a set of AI agents that have been trained to automate a range of software engineering tasks that DevOps engineers will be able to orchestrate.

    Additionally, Perforce is committing to using the same fabric to integrate its AI agents with other AI agents being developed by, for example, cloud service providers, she added.

    Perforce, for example, has already added several AI agents to platforms such as Gliffy, a diagramming platform for Confluence, a Wiki-based collaboration platform for sharing documents provided by Atlassian.

    Next month, AI agents will also be added to the Puppet Enterprise Advanced platform to provide access to Puppet Infra Assistant, a natural language chat interface that allows DevOps teams to quickly understand what is happening across the IT environments that have adopted the IT automation that Perforce acquired in 2022.

    Via that interface, it becomes possible to know how something is working, what versions of modules or server operating systems are being used and whether something is in or out of compliance without needing to know the Puppet programming language.

    Ultimately, the AI agents being developed by Perforce will make it simpler for DevOps teams to create and maintain workflows across a portfolio of DevOps tools and platforms that Perforce has acquired over the past few years, including BlazeMeter, an application testing platform, Delphix, a provider of data masking platform, and, most recently, Snowtrack, a provider of version control software used by application designers.

    The overall goal is to eliminate the need for scripts, frameworks, or other legacy approaches to integration in favor of AI agents that share access to an orchestration framework. Those agents will be able to proactively adapt as changes are made across the entire software development lifecycle (SDLC), said Arora.

    DevOps teams that have had early access to these AI agents have seen 50% efficiency gains while increasing test coverage by 20%, according to Perforce. In time, it’s apparent DevOps teams will be able to more effectively manage a much broader portfolio of applications, noted Arora. The challenge will be adapting existing DevOps cultures to include AI agents that software engineers are assigning tasks to complete, with the help of other AI agents and policy controls to provide governance functions and validations of output, she added.

    It’s not clear to what degree DevOps teams have adopted AI, but research from the Futurum Group finds 41% of respondents expect generative AI tools and platforms will be used to generate, review and test code. A total of 39% also plan to make use of AI models based on machine learning algorithms.

    Regardless of what type of AI technologies are adopted, hopefully, DevOps workflows and pipelines will soon be reconstructed in a way that is significantly less fragile as more scripts and connectors are eventually replaced by AI agents.

  • Survey Surfaces Substantial Platform Engineering Gains

    Survey Surfaces Substantial Platform Engineering Gains

    A global survey of 500 application development and deployment professionals finds that while 43% work for organizations that have had a platform team in place for three to five years, there doesn’t appear to be much consistency regarding where that team reports within an organization.

    The survey, conducted by Puppet by Perforce, a provider of an automation framework, found that among organizations that have platform teams, well over half (58%) operate within the context of a larger DevOps or infrastructure management organization, compared to 40% that have their own dedicated leadership.

    David Sandilands, a principal solutions architect for Puppet by Perforce, said the survey makes it clear that platform engineering, in general, is not a new concept, but it’s clear more organizations are trying to reduce the level of toil currently associated with building and deploying applications.

    Regardless of where platform teams reside in an organization, nearly two-thirds of respondents (65%) said they are important to their organizations and would receive continued funding. The primary purpose for forming these teams is to increase productivity (58%) and automate standardized processes (51%), the survey finds. Top goals for platform engineering teams are to solve problems (30%), enforce security processes (27%) and accelerate transitions to cloud-native computing environments (26%). A full 70% said security was built into their platforms from the start.

    That suggests that, in addition to assuming responsibility for traditional DevOps workflows, many platform teams are now also being asked to ensure DevSecOps best practices are followed at a time when application security requirements are becoming more stringent, noted Sandilands.

    More than three quarters (76%) also reported that they had deployed two or more self-service portals, with 27% having deployed five or more.

    Only 22%, however, said they have deployed applications on Kubernetes in a production environment, with just under half (46%) reporting they have no current plans to deploy a cloud-native computing platform, which are widely seen to be challenging to deploy and maintain.

    Overall, the survey makes it clear the primary focus is to ensure platforms continue to evolve as developer requirements continue to evolve, said Sandilands. Platform teams are not necessarily trying to dictate what tools should be used; instead, they are finding ways to automate processes that are increasing the level of friction developers encounter, he added.

    In the longer term, advances in artificial intelligence (AI) will make it simpler to achieve that goal using natural language interfaces that DevOps teams can more easily invoke, noted Sandilands.

    Each organization will need to decide for itself whether platform engineering makes sense as a methodology for managing DevOps at scale, but as application development and deployment continues to evolve, more nuanced approaches will be required. In general, organizations are trying to strike a balance between empowering developers and the need to streamline backend processes to increase productivity while also simplifying compliance and improving security.

    The challenge, of course, is enticing developers to buy into that concept rather than using their expertise to resist platform teams that might, from their perspective, limit their prerogatives in ways that ultimately stifle innovation.

  • Russian Dev Exodus | Puppet IPO FAIL | Intel 18A Ahead of Sched.

    Russian Dev Exodus | Puppet IPO FAIL | Intel 18A Ahead of Sched.

    Welcome to The Long View—where we peruse the news of the week and strip it to the essentials. Let’s work out what really matters.

    This week: More than 100,000 tech workers leave Russia, Perforce buys Puppet, and Intel moves faster than planned. (more…)

  • Perforce Releases Free, Turnkey Solution for Game Dev and VFX Studios on Microsoft Azure

    Turnkey Cloud Solution Streamlines the Deployment of Industry-Leading Development Tools to Help Studios Innovate Faster, Get to Market Quickly, and Scale as Their Projects Grow.

    Minneapolis, MN, June 17, 2021 — Perforce Software, a provider of solutions to teams requiring security, visibility, and scale along the development lifecycle, announces partnership with Microsoft to deliver the free Enhanced Studio Pack, providing the industry’s best development tools in a click-to-start model on the Azure cloud.

    By providing enterprise tools in a simple, pre-configured environment — with the infrastructure needed to support large files, numerous iterations, and remote team members — any studio can get up and running fast. This makes it possible for studios to develop high-quality, game-changing experiences quickly.

    For studios looking to capitalize on cloud benefits and avoid a costly hardware investment, the Enhanced Studios Pack combines the world-class development tools trusted by the largest AAA game development studios to enable creativity, collaboration, and speed, with Microsoft Azure, the cloud provider trusted by 95% of Fortune 500 companies. To help jumpstart innovation, Azure is offering $500 credits to the first 200 customers who sign up for the Enhanced Studio Pack on https://www.perforce.com/perforce-and-cloud.

    “At Microsoft, we’re on a mission to help unlock technical, creative and economic opportunities for game developers everywhere through our tools and services. By providing best-in-class DevOps solutions for game studios of all sizes, Perforce is an important partner on that journey. With the Perforce Enhanced Studio Pack now running on Microsoft Azure, we are expanding our solutions for the specific development needs of game creators with battle-tested gaming services, backed by the most trusted and secure enterprise cloud,” said James Gwertzman, GM Gaming Cloud at Microsoft.

    The click-to-start Enhanced Studio Pack Azure deployment can be used by small creative studios looking to accelerate and win in an ever-competitive market, or large entertainment companies that need to quickly spin up new projects.

    To help studios scale quickly and efficiently, Perforce also offers remote administrative services. Helix Remote Admin (HRA) allows studios to focus on their work while a team of Perforce experts optimize their cloud deployment and protect against the risks associated with downtime.

    Perforce Software continues to expand its cloud offerings to give teams the flexibility they need to accelerate their time to market and easily scale resources to match demand, with no limitations.

    About Perforce 
    Perforce powers innovation at unrivaled scale. Perforce solutions future-proof competitive advantage by driving quality, security, compliance, collaboration, and speed – across the technology lifecycle. We bring deep domain and vertical expertise to every customer, so nothing stands in the way of success.  Our global footprint spans more than 80 countries and includes over 75% of the Fortune 100. Perforce is trusted by the world’s leading brands to deliver solutions to even the toughest challenges. Accelerate technology delivery, with no shortcuts. Get the Power of Perforce.

  • Perforce Documents Record Growth as Gaming and Production Studios Adapt to New Ways of Working

    Strong growth in 2020 continues in 2021 as gaming and virtual production studios meet increased customer demand with highly efficient, increasingly distributed work and collaboration techniques that are now part of the new normal.

    Minneapolis, MN, June 7, 2021 — Perforce Software, (“Perforce”), a provider of DevOps solutions to enterprise teams requiring productivity, visibility, and scale along the development lifecycle, announced that its Helix branded asset management business is continuing to experience record growth in the gaming and virtual production verticals as teams ramp up production to meet increased customer demand.

    During the pandemic, traditional film and television studios were unable to operate as normal, causing delays in many major productions. Many projects turned to virtual production methods to keep their projects on time and deliver new content for high demand outlets such as streaming services. At the same time, 55% of people turned to video games for entertainment during lockdowns. This led to an increased demand for solutions that could support increased collaboration with security and scale to meet customer demand.

    Helix Core, used by leading projects and studios to provide secure asset management and team collaboration for projects of any size, grew its virtual production and gaming vertical by 50% in 2020. Pandemic expansion drove the number of Helix Core customers to over 4,000 across the globe.

    “We are pleased to partner with Perforce for The Suicide Squad. Our teams use Helix Core because it just works. There are never any problems with scale or security, and we need to be sure we can rely on the systems that form the backbone of our production. Plus, the tool is easy for everyone to use – from technical users to designers and artists. Perforce has been a great partner for us,” said Halon Entertainment.

    “Helix Core has long been the defacto choice for gaming and virtual production studios since 1995. We are pleased to partner with these industries through their rapid growth and are working in tandem to ensure Helix Core and the Helix Platform evolves to meet their needs. We are committed to the success of our customers,” Brad Hart, CTO Perforce Software.

    About Perforce 
    Perforce powers innovation at unrivaled scale. Perforce solutions future-proof competitive advantage by driving quality, security, compliance, collaboration, and speed – across the technology lifecycle. We bring deep domain and vertical expertise to every customer, so nothing stands in the way of success. Privately held and funded by Clearlake Capital and Francisco Partners, our global footprint spans more than 80 countries and includes over 75% of the Fortune 100. Perforce is trusted by the world’s leading brands to deliver solutions to even the toughest challenges. Accelerate technology delivery, with no shortcuts. Get the Power of Perforce.

  • Perforce Acquires 21 Labs, an AI-Based Scriptless Mobile Testing Provider

    Acquisition Allows Perforce to Offer a Comprehensive, Intelligent Test Automation Solution to Help Businesses Deliver Faster Results

    Minneapolis, MN, May 17, 2021 – Perforce Software, (“Perforce”), a provider of solutions to enterprise teams requiring productivity, visibility, and scale along the development lifecycle, backed by Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. (together with its affiliates, “Clearlake”) and Francisco Partners, announced today that it has acquired 21 Labs, an AI-based mobile testing provider that helps businesses deliver quality software faster.

    As Perforce’s second scriptless testing acquisition, 21 Labs will further strengthen the company’s portfolio of automated testing solutions. Following the recently announced Perfecto Scriptless solution for no-code web testing and the addition of virtual devices, the Perfecto platform now offers the only complete set of digital tools for mobile and web environments available today.

    “In today’s crowded testing market, enterprises are looking for a comprehensive, reliable solution that addresses the testing lifecycle across all digital channels, from creation, to execution, to analysis. Together with 21 Labs, we’re able to do just that – being the first to provide organizations with a complete continuous testing solution for mobile and web that quickly delivers combined, AI-driven insights to improve application quality and directly impact the success of their businesses,” said Mark Ties, CEO and President, Perforce. “21 Labs further advances our mission to help customers deliver innovation at speed and at scale.”

    As the industry continues to shift-left, enterprises struggle with automating QA and speeding the feedback loop from development and testing to ensure a quality user experience. Challenged by the unique skill sets needed to implement test automation throughout the software delivery lifecycle, businesses require a seamless, user-friendly platform that will help streamline testing so they can focus their time and energy on innovation.

    “Together, Perforce’s portfolio of intelligent test automation solutions and 21 Labs’ AI-based technology will help customers solve their hardest DevOps challenges. The skill set gap, integration complexity, and lengthy test creation and maintenance cycles are a sore spot for enterprises. These are further amplified in mobile due to the different development frameworks and the fragmentation of devices and operating systems. Companies can now achieve continuous testing in weeks vs. months or years through a self-learning and framework-agnostic intelligent test creation and maintenance platform,” said Shani Shoham, CEO and Founder, 21 Labs. “By joining forces with Perforce, we will be able to see out our vision of leveraging data to make QA more autonomous and close the feedback loop between development and production.”

    “Apps are often the face of a business and an innovative, always-improving experience is vital to customer engagement,” said Tim Russell, Chief Product Officer, Perforce. “21 Labs’ technology expands our offering to ensure enterprises are able to find and fix errors so they can deliver innovative quality experiences, faster.”

    21 Labs’ framework-agnostic, self-learning, and auto-maintenance test automation engine leverages AI and visual analysis to help customers quickly author mobile tests in a code-free environment on real or virtual devices. Today, the solution is integrated with the Perfecto Intelligent Test Automation platform, allowing users to execute their tests and analyze results with confidence.

    To learn more about the Perfecto Platform for Web and Mobile Testing, click here: http://www.perfecto.io/.

    Lincoln International served as the exclusive financial advisor to Perforce on this transaction.

    About 21 Labs
    21 Labs is a DevOps platform that uses production analytics to enable autonomous testing and release with confidence, backed by data. The self-learning, auto-maintenance test automation platform reduces manual and automated QA efforts by 90% and helps organizations truly leverage CI/CD in weeks vs. years. 21 Labs is a framework agnostic SaaS platform, integrated into its customers’ stack, requiring no lengthy setup processes.

    About Perforce
    Perforce powers innovation at unrivaled scale. Perforce solutions future-proof competitive advantage by driving quality, security, compliance, collaboration, and speed – across the technology lifecycle. We bring deep domain and vertical expertise to every customer, so nothing stands in the way of success. Privately held and funded by Clearlake Capital and Francisco Partners, our global footprint spans more than 80 countries and includes over 75% of the Fortune 100. Perforce is trusted by the world’s leading brands to deliver solutions to even the toughest challenges. Accelerate technology delivery, with no shortcuts. Get the Power of Perforce.

    About Clearlake Capital
    Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. is a leading investment firm founded in 2006 operating integrated businesses across private equity, credit and other related strategies. With a sector-focused approach, the firm seeks to partner with world-class management teams by providing patient, long-term capital to dynamic businesses that can benefit from Clearlake’s operational improvement approach, O.P.S.® The firm’s core target sectors are technology, industrials and consumer. Clearlake currently has approximately $35 billion of assets under management and its senior investment principals have led or co-led over 300 investments. The firm has offices in Santa Monica and Dallas. More information is available at www.clearlake.com and on Twitter @ClearlakeCap.

    About Francisco Partners
    Francisco Partners is a leading global investment firm that specializes in partnering with technology and technology-enabled businesses. Since its launch over 20 years ago, Francisco Partners has invested in more than 300 technology companies, making it one of the most active and longstanding investors in the technology industry. With more than $25 billion in assets under management, the firm invests in opportunities where its deep sectoral knowledge and operational expertise can help companies realize their full potential. For more information on Francisco Partners, please visit www.franciscopartners.com.