IBM Unveils New DevOps Capabilities For Bluemix

IBM (IBM) is rolling out new features for its recently released Bluemix platform as a service (PaaS). According to Big Blue, the goal of the new features is to make it easier for organizations to develop software in the cloud and perform devops duties.

Part of the purpose is to extend enterprise applications to the cloud, making it easier to develop and port apps from traditional IT to the cloud.

“Since Bluemix was launched just three months ago, we’ve seen a rapid ramp-up of third-party and IBM services available to developers who want to use devops in the cloud to create composable, enterprise-class apps,” said Steve Robinson, general manager of IBM’s Cloud Platform Services, in a prepared statement. “Much of this evolution stems from work we’ve done with clients and our collaboration with our growing, open standards-based ecosystem. We can expect this momentum to continue as a bigger share of nearly 18 million developers globally move the bulk of their app development to the cloud.”

According to IBM, the new devops capabilities are those typically used from behind organizatons’ firewalls, but IBM is taking them to the cloud. They include:

• Continuous testing, release and deployment solutions, including applying advanced analytics to gauge mobile app user sentiment and quality. It also offers capabilities to accelerate multi-platform application testing for IMS, CICS and SAP applications, as well as the ability to deploy apps on multiple platforms simultaneously.
• Continuous business planning and collaborative development solutions for open communication and analytics between teams to manage change faster. IBM is also offering collaborative lifecycle management capabilities with out-of-the-box and self-service reporting.

IBM also unveiled new Bluemix services, including:

• AppScan, which enables building security by design via rapid testing in multiple environments and shared results.
• Embeddable Reporting, which provides advanced analytics within an app from the time it’s provisioned, turning volumes of Big Data into actionable feedback.
• Workflow services to orchestrate cloud services to evolve workflows based on their behaviors.
• Continuous Delivery Pipeline, which allows organizations to manage multiple application releases simultaneously for increased competitive advantage.