“A cloud platform based on an open-source technology stack lets the Department of Veterans Affairs use infrastructure as code (IaC) to spin up, tear down and rebuild a new environment in a matter of minutes.”
“’That is exponentially more efficient than anything we’ve done in the past,’ said Dan McCune, executive director of application management at VA. ‘Standing up a new environment is usually measured in days and sometimes weeks.’”
“The platform behind this new capability is called the Benefits Integration Platform. Sitting in the department’s enterprise cloud environment, it takes data and systems out of previous hosting facilities — usually data centers — and moves them to BIP. With the cloud foundation in place, McCune said, VA is adding open-source tools that let the department use containers and microservices, create clusters and scale, giving it ‘the most bang for the buck from cloud.’”
“The BIP program leverages the Scaled Agile Framework to manage business initiatives within VA agencies, ensuring a common approach to developing application programming interfaces and microservices. It also helps identify and maximize shared services across the department.”
“What’s more, the platform gives VA the resiliency and scalability it needs for DevOps practices such as automated testing, builds and deployments; a continuous integration/continuous deployment pipeline; and IaC…” Read the full article here.
Source: VA benefits platform makes a splash without busting the budget – By Stephanie Kanowitz, January 22, 2020. Defense Systems.
