By Olenka Van Schendel<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>In 2018 the enterprise IT silo<\/strong> problem still persists.\u00a0 The disconnect between Digital initiatives and Legacy development continues to drain IT budgets and increases the risk of side-effects in production.\u00a0 Errors detected at this point have a direct business impact: the average cost of a major incident in a strategic software application in production per hour is 1 M$, that\u2019s tenfold the average cost of a hardware malfunction per hour (*).\u00a0 And it’s estimated that 70% of errors in production are simply due to deployment errors, and only 30% due to faulty code. \u00a0Yet those responsible for today\u2019s diverse IT cultures are lacking visibility and control over the software release process.<\/p>\nWhat solutions are emerging?\u00a0 Since the last Gartner Symposium, we are seeing Release Management<\/strong> technologies and DevOps<\/strong> converge.\u00a0 Enterprise DevOps<\/strong> is coming of age.<\/p>\nAs a mainstream movement, the DevOps community is assuming the operational reponsibility that comes with success. The agility of “Dev” tackles the constraints and corporate policies familiar to “Ops”.<\/p>\n<\/div>
Summary:<\/h2>\n\n- From CI\/CD to Enterprise DevOps<\/a><\/li>\n
- What has been holding DevOps back? Bimodal IT holds the key<\/a><\/li>\n
- The limits of CI\/CD<\/a><\/li>\n
- From Application Release Automation (ARA) to Orchestration (ARO)<\/a><\/li>\n
- Enterprise DevOps: Scaling Release Quality and Velocity<\/a><\/li>\n
- How to transition Legacy systems to DevOps?<\/a><\/li>\n
- Leveraging existing CI\/CD pipelines<\/a><\/li>\n
- Modernizing your IT assets<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n
From CI\/CD to Enterprise DevOps<\/h2>\n
IT environments today are comprised of of a complex mixture of applications\u00a0each one made up of potentially hundreds of microservices, containers, and multiple development technologies \u2013 including legacy platforms<\/strong> that have proven so reliable\u00a0and valuable to the business that even in 2018 they still form the core of many of the world\u2019s largest business applications today.<\/p>\nMany CI\/CD<\/strong> pipelines have done a fair job in provisioning, environment configuration, and automating the deployment of applications. But they have so far failed in giving the business the answers to enterprise-level questions around business the answers to enterprise-level challenges around new regulations compliance, corporate governance and evolving security needs.
\nWhat are called DevOps pipelines<\/strong> today are often custom-scripted and fragile chains of disparate tools. Designed primarily for cloud-native environments, they have successfully automated a repeatable process for getting applications running, tested and delivered.
\nBut most are lacking the technology layer needed to manage legacy platforms like IBM i (aka iSeries, AS\/400) and mainframe z\/OS, leaving a “weak link” in the delivery process.\u00a0 This siloed approach to DevOps tooling carries the business risk of production downtime and uncontrolled cost.<\/p>\nSolutions are emerging. Listen to SpareBank1<\/a>‘s experience for a recent example. The next phase in release management is already with us. Enterprise DevOps offers a single, common software delivery pipeline across all IT development cultures and end-to-end transparency on release status.\u00a0 This blog explains how we got here.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nWhat has been holding DevOps back? Bimodal IT holds the key.<\/h2>\n
The last few years have seen the emergence of “Bimodal IT<\/strong>“, an IT management practice recognizing two types \u2013 and speeds – of software development, and prescribing separate but coordinated processes for each.
\nGartner Research defines Bimodal IT as “the practice of managing two separate but coherent styles of work: one focused on predictability; the other on exploration”.
\nIn practice, this calls for two parallel tracks, one supporting rapid application development for digital innovation projects, alongside another, slower track for ongoing application maintenance on core software assets.<\/p>\n![\"Bimodal](\"https:\/\/www.arcadsoftware.com\/arcad\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Bimodal-IT.png\")
<\/p>\n
According to Gartner, IT work styles fall into two modes. Bimodal Mode 1 is optimized for areas that are more predictable and well-understood. It focuses on exploiting what is known, while renovating the legacy environment into a state that is fit for a digital world. Mode 2 is exploratory, experimenting to solve new problems and optimized for areas of uncertainty. These initiatives often begin with a hypothesis that is tested and adapted during a process involving short iterations, potentially adopting a minimum viable product (MVP) approach. Both modes are essential in an enterprise to create substantial value and drive significant organizational change, and neither is static. Combining a more predictable evolution of products and technologies (Mode 1) with the new and innovative (Mode 2) is the essence of an enterprise bimodal capability. Both play an essential role in the digital transformation.
\nLegacy systems like IBM i and z\/OS often fall into the Mode 1 category. New developments on Windows, Unix and Linux typically fall into Mode 2.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\nThe limits of CI\/CD<\/h2>\n
Seamless software delivery<\/strong> is a primary business goal. The IT industry has made leaps and bounds in this direction with the widespread adoption of automated Continuous Integration\/Continuous Delivery (CI\/CD).\u00a0But let us be clear about what CI\/CD is and what it is not.
\nContinuous Integration<\/strong> (CI) is set of development practices driving teams to implement small changes and check in code to shared repositories frequently. CI starts at the end of the code phase and requires developers to integrate code into the repository several times a day. Each checkin is then verified by an automated build and test, allowing teams to detect and correct problems early.
\nContinuous Delivery<\/strong> (CD) picks up where CI ends and spans the provision-test-environment, deploy-to-test, acceptance-test and deploy-to-production phases of the SDLC.
\nContinuous Deployment<\/strong> extends continuous delivery: every change that passes the automated tests is deployed to production automatically. By the law of DevOps, continuous deployment should be the goal of most companies that are not constrained by regulatory or other requirements.
\nThe issue is that most CI\/CD pipelines are limited in their use to the cloud-native, so-called new technology side of the enterprise. Enterprises today are awaiting the next evolution, one of a common, shared pipeline across all technology cultures. To achieve this, many organizations need to progress from a simple automation to business release coordination, or orchestration<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
In 2018 the enterprise IT silo<\/strong> problem still persists.\u00a0 The disconnect between Digital initiatives and Legacy development continues to drain IT budgets and increases the risk of side-effects in production.\u00a0 Errors detected at this point have a direct business impact: the average cost of a major incident in a strategic software application in production per hour is 1 M$, that\u2019s tenfold the average cost of a hardware malfunction per hour (*).\u00a0 And it’s estimated that 70% of errors in production are simply due to deployment errors, and only 30% due to faulty code. \u00a0Yet those responsible for today\u2019s diverse IT cultures are lacking visibility and control over the software release process.<\/p>\n What solutions are emerging?\u00a0 Since the last Gartner Symposium, we are seeing Release Management<\/strong> technologies and DevOps<\/strong> converge.\u00a0 Enterprise DevOps<\/strong> is coming of age.<\/p>\n As a mainstream movement, the DevOps community is assuming the operational reponsibility that comes with success. The agility of “Dev” tackles the constraints and corporate policies familiar to “Ops”.<\/p>\n<\/div> IT environments today are comprised of of a complex mixture of applications\u00a0each one made up of potentially hundreds of microservices, containers, and multiple development technologies \u2013 including legacy platforms<\/strong> that have proven so reliable\u00a0and valuable to the business that even in 2018 they still form the core of many of the world\u2019s largest business applications today.<\/p>\n Many CI\/CD<\/strong> pipelines have done a fair job in provisioning, environment configuration, and automating the deployment of applications. But they have so far failed in giving the business the answers to enterprise-level questions around business the answers to enterprise-level challenges around new regulations compliance, corporate governance and evolving security needs. Solutions are emerging. Listen to SpareBank1<\/a>‘s experience for a recent example. The next phase in release management is already with us. Enterprise DevOps offers a single, common software delivery pipeline across all IT development cultures and end-to-end transparency on release status.\u00a0 This blog explains how we got here.<\/p>\n The last few years have seen the emergence of “Bimodal IT<\/strong>“, an IT management practice recognizing two types \u2013 and speeds – of software development, and prescribing separate but coordinated processes for each. According to Gartner, IT work styles fall into two modes. Bimodal Mode 1 is optimized for areas that are more predictable and well-understood. It focuses on exploiting what is known, while renovating the legacy environment into a state that is fit for a digital world. Mode 2 is exploratory, experimenting to solve new problems and optimized for areas of uncertainty. These initiatives often begin with a hypothesis that is tested and adapted during a process involving short iterations, potentially adopting a minimum viable product (MVP) approach. Both modes are essential in an enterprise to create substantial value and drive significant organizational change, and neither is static. Combining a more predictable evolution of products and technologies (Mode 1) with the new and innovative (Mode 2) is the essence of an enterprise bimodal capability. Both play an essential role in the digital transformation. Seamless software delivery<\/strong> is a primary business goal. The IT industry has made leaps and bounds in this direction with the widespread adoption of automated Continuous Integration\/Continuous Delivery (CI\/CD).\u00a0But let us be clear about what CI\/CD is and what it is not.Summary:<\/h2>\n
\n
From CI\/CD to Enterprise DevOps<\/h2>\n
\nWhat are called DevOps pipelines<\/strong> today are often custom-scripted and fragile chains of disparate tools. Designed primarily for cloud-native environments, they have successfully automated a repeatable process for getting applications running, tested and delivered.
\nBut most are lacking the technology layer needed to manage legacy platforms like IBM i (aka iSeries, AS\/400) and mainframe z\/OS, leaving a “weak link” in the delivery process.\u00a0 This siloed approach to DevOps tooling carries the business risk of production downtime and uncontrolled cost.<\/p>\nWhat has been holding DevOps back? Bimodal IT holds the key.<\/h2>\n
\nGartner Research defines Bimodal IT as “the practice of managing two separate but coherent styles of work: one focused on predictability; the other on exploration”.
\nIn practice, this calls for two parallel tracks, one supporting rapid application development for digital innovation projects, alongside another, slower track for ongoing application maintenance on core software assets.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nLegacy systems like IBM i and z\/OS often fall into the Mode 1 category. New developments on Windows, Unix and Linux typically fall into Mode 2.<\/p>\nThe limits of CI\/CD<\/h2>\n
\nContinuous Integration<\/strong> (CI) is set of development practices driving teams to implement small changes and check in code to shared repositories frequently. CI starts at the end of the code phase and requires developers to integrate code into the repository several times a day. Each checkin is then verified by an automated build and test, allowing teams to detect and correct problems early.
\nContinuous Delivery<\/strong> (CD) picks up where CI ends and spans the provision-test-environment, deploy-to-test, acceptance-test and deploy-to-production phases of the SDLC.
\nContinuous Deployment<\/strong> extends continuous delivery: every change that passes the automated tests is deployed to production automatically. By the law of DevOps, continuous deployment should be the goal of most companies that are not constrained by regulatory or other requirements.
\nThe issue is that most CI\/CD pipelines are limited in their use to the cloud-native, so-called new technology side of the enterprise. Enterprises today are awaiting the next evolution, one of a common, shared pipeline across all technology cultures. To achieve this, many organizations need to progress from a simple automation to business release coordination, or orchestration<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
![\"Olenka](\"https:\/\/www.arcadsoftware.com\/arcad\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/olenka-van-schendel.png\" "\\"olenka-van-schendel\\"")
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