UC4, a provider of IT process automation solutions, announced it is shipping a new version of its Application Release Automation (ARA) solution, intended to provide greater visibility into the end-to-end release processes through cross functional planning, tracking and reporting. The solution is designed to automate the deployment of complex applications from development through production.
"We're looking primarily, though not exclusively, at internally developed multi-tier applications, such as Java stack applications," Randy Clark, CMO of UC4, tells 5 Minute Briefing. Rolling out internally developed applications is typically a complex, time-consuming process that involves numerous manual steps. The UC4 ARA solution is intended to help address increasingly complex IT infrastructures, particularly Web-based applications, Clark adds.
The enhanced ARA solution offers new features including release planning, which consists of the bundling of application components, application packaging and project resource scheduling across teams and environments. The new version also includes centralized configuration and control for environment configuration and control as well as an ability to roll out environment modifications from development through production.
With the growing emphasis on agile development, applications are being released on a more frequent basis, Clark says. Combined with the shift to service oriented architecture, virtualization and cloud on the infrastructure side, "you have a set of complex dependencies that is just hard to manage," he says. You end up with a control problem, given the limited maintenance windows for updating and rolling out these applications, along with bringing the teams together to do that in an effective way skillset wise, you really end up with a planning and control problem. This is a big area, with big problems."
UC4's ARA solution is one of several enterprise automation solutions that comprise its ONE Automation platform. "We also manage application process automation for Oracle Retail, Oracle E-Business, and SAP," Clark says.
More information on UC4 Software is available at the company's website at www.uc4.com.