Latest from Stephen
API Security by Design
“APIs are nothing new,” said Secure Code Warrior co-founder and CTO Matias Madou, but they have recently become more widely used. And where they were once a local mechanism, they are increasingly used in a distributed manner, partly because of changes to application architectures. Another reason is that users are increasingly likely to access systems […]
May 25, 2021 · 3 minAll articles by Stephen Withers
Showing 1–23Consider Telemetry When Rearchitecting Applications
Australia and New Zealand have seen a big move to the public cloud, and “… when I talk to customers, I see huge interest in rearchitecting applications rather than doing a lift-and-shift right into public cloud,” said Scott van Kalken, F5 ANZ solution architect for DevOps and modern applications. That migration to the public cloud […]
How To Address DevSecOps Skills Shortages
“If it’s scarce, it drives the price up,” said McAfee director of systems engineering Sahba Idelkhani. And DevSecOps talent is scarce, and expensive. Restrictions on international travel are having an effect on immigration in some countries, notably Australia. But there’s practically nothing employers can do about that. But some aspects of the supposed skills shortage […]
SOFIHUB Relies on DevOps to Support Independent Seniors
How DevOps is helping one company ensure an active older population can remain independent SOFIHUB home is designed to support older people who wish to live as independently as possible. However, its sensor-based system needed an upgrade to improve the user experience. The SOFIHUB technology connects wirelessly to sensors placed around the home and learns […]
Government Has a DevOps Lesson for Private Sector
The missions of government organizations and DevOps are well-aligned, according to F5 system engineer Scott Van Kalken, who works with many organizations at various levels of government around Australia. That’s because government organizations provide services to the community, and DevOps is about providing services to a community of users. He sees more use of DevOps […]
DevOps at Longtail UX
Longtail UX is an Australian SaaS startup that boosts traffic to e-commerce sites by automating the selection of relevant long-tail search terms and the creation of custom landing pages for each of those terms. The company has fully embraced the Infrastructure-as-Code approach, according to Troy Jendra, senior systems architect at Longtail UX. By using Terraform […]
DevOps at a Distance
How do you successfully follow DevOps practices when the two parts of your team are 5,000 miles (8,000km) and two time zones apart? Airwallex is a global fintech founded in Melbourne, Australia just four years ago. It is Australia’s fastest-growth tech unicorn with a valuation of over $1 billion thanks in part to investments from […]
DevOps Needs Collaboration and a Safe Place for Success
When it comes to DevOps adoption, “[many organizations] tell a similar story,” said Scott Van Kalken, systems engineer at F5 Networks. It takes more time and effort to develop the right culture than you probably expect. Van Kalken has a long history in tech, including development and operations roles, and has spent several years practicing […]
Security: Are You Doing DevOps Right?
Phil Kernick, co-founder and CTO of cybersecurity specialist CQR Consulting, has no fundamental problem with DevOps, but asks, from a security perspective, “How many people do it right?” If DevOps is going to work and produce secure systems, then developers must take responsibility for security. It’s not something that can be treated as an additional […]
DevOps at Scale
According to Accenture‘s APAC practice lead for Agile, DevOps and Test Automation Mirco Hering, there is general agreement that DevOps at scale is a good thing, but the problem is getting from where organizations are to where they want to be. Obstacles include having plenty of technology skills but little or no technology management (i.e., […]
DevSecOps: Security Needn’t be Sacrificed for Speed
With the right practices, security needn’t be an impediment to continuous development and rapid improvement. The same cycle keeps repeating, according to IT security and risk management consultancy Sense of Security co-founder and CTO Murray Goldschmidt. A new technology is hyped, leading to rapid adoption, but security is left as an afterthought. It happened with […]
Case Study: DevOps Key to AWS Cloud Migration
DevOps practices halved the time it took this SaaS company to migrate to AWS Australia-based Whispir provides communications applications as a service. One of its goals is to get products into users’ hands as soon as possible, and that requires development, operations and product staff working together, said Jonathan Swift, head of product and operations. […]
DevOps Proves No Coaster Ride for Roller
Keeping amusement parks running and the fun flowing is Roller‘s main job. The company provides software for the leisure and entertainment industries, notably theme parks, amusement parks and trampoline parks. Its core functions are ticketing, POS and CRM. Clients include Coney Island Luna Park, Aussie World and Twinlakes Park. When Roller decided to expand and […]
Yahoo7 Uses DevOps to Speed Website Redevelopment
Yahoo7 is a joint venture between Yahoo and Australian entertainment and TV company Seven West Media. Seven is one of Australia’s three major TV networks. The company has completely replaced its technology stack and is in the process of revamping its seven consumer sites to take advantage of the new platform. The first cab off […]
From Artisanal to Factory: The IT Pendulum is Swinging Back
Splunk Vice President of IT Markets and Chief Technology Advocate Andi Mann sees DevOps moving from an artisanal approach to an IT factory. This represents a reversal: Historically, developers operated in a factory-like environment, passing chunks of work down the line, but that caused problems because “different managers owned different sections of the production line.” […]
Australian DevOps Company to Open US Office in 2017
Australia-based DevOps as a managed service provider base2Services is preparing to establish a U.S. office in mid-2017. Despite being based in Melbourne, Australia, base2Services already has five customers in North America—including media company All Day and online video specialist Sardius Media—that contribute nearly 20 percent of the company’s revenue. Further expansion in the region will […]
DevOps: Achieving Process Without Too Much ‘Process’
While there’s no fundamental conflict between IT service management (ITSM) and DevOps, DevOps does bring new and different techniques for getting work done and interacting with the rest of the organization. ITSM people who are used to frameworks such as ITIL and COBIT tend to regard the IT department as a “service provider” and the […]
DevOps is Becoming Mainstream in Australia
DevOps has taken root in Australia, where its practitioners are showing a high level of sophistication. According to Paul Muller, vice president of Strategic Marketing, Software, at Hewlett Packard Enterprise Asia Pacific and Japan, interest in DevOps at Australian organizations rose, fell back and then rose again—a pattern that reminds us of Gartner’s Hype Cycle. […]
How to Kick-Start Your DevOps Adoption
A recent survey by CA Technologies found Australian organizations are below par in terms of implementing measures to adopt and achieve successful DevOps strategies. According to Ashok Vasan, vice president of DevOps Solutions Strategy at CA Technologies Asia Pacific and Japan, organizations are generally aware of the DevOps methodology and its value, but they either […]
Microservices: Easier Than You Think
“Microservices are easier than you think and more valuable than you’ve heard.” Those are the words of Ben Gracewood, chief delivery officer at cloud POS and omnichannel retail provider Vend. His company has used microservices to trim a monolithic PHP application, improving performance and changing the way the company approaches updates. Approaching Microservices Vend is […]
DevOps as a Service at base2Services
Given DevOps’ emphasis on close collaboration, what are we to make of the idea of DevOps as a Service? Aaron Walker, cloud and integration principal at base2Services explains. base2Services started as a consultancy service specializing in open source software (especially middleware), but also developed software for its clients. Over time, the pendulum swung towards development, […]
DevOps at REA Group
“DevOps is 100 years old, and probably invented by a British engineer in the 1920s,” according to Nigel Dalton, CIO at REA Group, the company behind realestate.com.au and other leading real estate sites in Australia, Hong Kong and Europe. He was referring to the work of Frank Woollard at Morris Motors in the UK. In […]
The benefits of micro-services
The adoption of a micro-services architecture has two main advantages, according to ThoughtWorks technologist Sam Newman. One is that micro-services increase the autonomy of individual development teams within an organization, as ideas can be implemented and deployed without having to coordinate with a wider IT delivery function. This allows new or changed features to be […]