DevOps Platform

by Marc Dallas

A New Era for Application Release Automation

The world of ARO (Application Release Orchestration) is undergoing a profound transformation with the emergence of “DevOps Platforms.” More than just a tool, this represents a true paradigm shift—a strategic lever for companies seeking to combine agility, resilience, and operational excellence.

1. What is a DevOps Platform?

A DevOps Platform is an integrated solution that orchestrates the entire application system development lifecycle, while ensuring smooth and intelligent coordination of application deployment. The Goal? To reconcile robustness and speed by offering structured, global management of digital ecosystems.

2. The Pillars of a High-Performance DevOps Platform

To be successful, a DevOps Platform must build on several key ideals:

A Centralized Code Repository and Version Management

To ensure traceability of changes and strengthen team communication around shared functional challenges.

Automated Deployment

  • For comprehensive application coverage.
  • Automated production releases for seamless and continuous deployment.
  • Coordinated management of dependent releases, with rollback capability when needed.

Integrated Infrastructure Provisioning

The receiving environment must be automatically provisioned and perfectly aligned with application needs.

Intelligent Monitoring and Real-Time Analysis

For increased visibility into performance and proactive incident management.

Strong Governance Around Security and Compliance

To ensure quality and service continuity in a world where threats and operational complexity are growing, notably through DORA (DevOps Research and Assessment) metrics.

3. DevOps Platform: A Strategic Implementation

Builting on the ideas above, the adoption of a DevOps Platform consists of four guiding principles:

Universalization: “Manage Everything”

Mastering the entire IT lifecycle, without technological bias, to maximize responsiveness and reduce Time-to-Market.

Unification: “Manage Everything in One Place”

Centralizing management to strengthen team cohesion and align efforts towards a common goal: performance.

Standardization: “Manage Everything in One Place, in the Same Way”

Harmonizing practices to create uniform expertise and promote continuous, sustainable improvement. Eliminating the challenges of unique skill dependencies inherent to diverse technologies.

Synchronization: “Manage Everything in One Place, in the Same Way, at the Same Time”

Ensuring perfect consistency between interdependent application components, thereby reducing production incident risks and enhancing reliability and service quality.

Additionally, centralizing execution elements (such as logs) allows for improved diagnostic actions, including leveraging AI-Ops.

4. Adoption Challenges: Between Culture and Technology

Any transformation will encounter some resistance. The implementation of a DevOps Platform is no exception and faces both cultural and technical barriers.

Cultural Resistance

  • Resistance to change and fear of production deployment.
  • Historical silos hindering the transition to a collaborative approach.
  • A gap between business team expectations and IT team capabilities.

Technological Challenges

  • Application architectures that remain too monolithic.
  • Complex interoperability between existing solutions.
  • Hybrid and cloud infrastructures requiring precise scalability and security management..

5. The Importance of a Full Organizational Transformation

Implementing a DevOps Platform is not just a tool change; it is a profound reorganization of work methods and structure.

Bridging the Gap Between Development and Operations

  • Better understanding and integrating mutual constraints.
  • Managing change with an open mind and strong leadership.

Clarifying and Redefining Roles and Responsibilities

  • Recognizing the critical nature of OPS activities and making them a strategic pillar.
  • Establishing a common dialogue and extending this dynamic throughout the organization.

Building a Truly Business-Oriented Information System

  • Placing the application system at the heart of strategy, rather than just the technology.
  • Reducing vendor lock-in to foster independence.
  • Strongly involving business teams in the construction and evolution of IT systems.

6. Moving Towards a Global and Structured DevOps Approach

Today’s DevOps practices still suffer from many limitations:

  • A multitude of scattered tools focused on application deployment rather than system-wide deployment.
  • A lack of comprehensive application support, leading to automation gaps and blind spots in the overall framework.
  • A fragmented approach to complexity management, handled case by case by specific experts.
  • An absence of unified performance indicators, making it difficult to assess overall operational effectiveness.

7. Moving Towards a New Standard of Performance

The rise of DevOps Platforms marks a decisive shift in application system management. By moving beyond fragmented approaches and enabling intelligent and centralized orchestration, DevOps provides businesses with a significant competitive advantage.

Their adoption will require substantial cultural and organizational evolution. It is not just about implementing the newest technology but about initiating a deep transformation in how we design, deploy, and operate IT systems.

A DevOps Platform does not merely optimize processes—it becomes the foundation of a profound transformation. Yet, it must also integrate the necessary services to fully fulfill this transformational role. Today, very few platforms meet all these requirements. However, companies can adopt a DevOps Platform Engineering approach, building their own platform from interoperable and proven components.

In this dynamic, DROPS stands out with an architecture designed to meet the OPS imperatives of a complete DevOps Platform. Its integrated approach and alignment with market best practices make it a preferred solution for those seeking to accelerate their transformation while ensuring a high level of security, stability, and performance.

Deploy your applications with DROPS

Marc Dallas

VP R&D and Business Line Manager
Application Release Automation

Marc Dallas is VP of R&D and Business Line Manager for Application Release Automation at ARCAD Software. With over 25 years of experience in production management and R&D teams, Marc plays a key role in the development of DevOps tools for IBM i, Release Management, and Test Data Management.

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