Welcome to this IBM Rational podcast, Driving. the Cost Out of the Application Lifecycle with Service

Transcription

1 IBM Podcast [ MUSIC ] GIST: Welcome to this IBM Rational podcast, Driving the Cost Out of the Application Lifecycle with Service Virtualization. I'm Kimberly Gist with IBM. Every agency is under pressure to reduce cost while at the same time increasing the amount of development. The power of virtualization has moved from the datacenter floor to mission delivery with new service virtualization which reduces the cost of developing and sustaining the complex integrated systems that are critical for agency programs and operations. Well, today, Madeline Bayliss, quality management sales lead for U.S. Federal, and Tammy Kulesa, worldwide go to market manager for government and Smarter Cities of IBM Rational, join us to discuss how service virtualization can bend the cost curve with more agility and less risk. Madeline and Tammy, welcome to the podcast series. Thank you for joining us today. We're looking forward to your discussion. Tammy, I'll hand the reins over to you. Kim, thank you so much. So as Kim mentioned, we're here to talk about service virtualization and its -1-

2 application in these government environments. So, Madeline, I've heard of datacenter virtualization and I've heard of server virtualization, but service virtualization is a new term for me. Can you give a brief explanation, overview of what this means? Sure can, Tammy. Very simply, service virtualization allows the client to create virtual components which model the behavior systems under use. And you can use these virtual services to stand in for missing or unavailable components while you're in development or testing phases. Or, if you have the whole application in virtual services, you can provide a 24-by-7 flexible access as environments for those nonproduction activities -- you know, such as development, test, sandbox, training and the like. Does that help, Tammy? It does help. And you know, I wanted to move real quickly to some of the expressions and things that we've been hearing around a lot lately -- expressions like "doing more with less," and there seems to be a renewed focus on how to make that term a reality. The needed reductions seem to be at opposition with the true needs that we see for more: more investment, more time to -2-

3 deliver things, more ways to reach the citizens. I mean, there's mobile and several different mobile platforms. More productivity; the list just continues on and on and on. So can you comment on that need and how service virtualization fits into this? Today this "do more with less" is really no longer a catch phrase. The agencies are having to take a fresh look at automation, not just because of the call for lower budgets and debt ceiling reduction, but also those innovations you talked about, Tammy, they come out of government or presidential directives but unfortunately come without the funding. And so, organizations are really under stress from several angles and they need to look at automation with a fresh eye as to how things can be tackled to reduce costs so that money can either be offset to these reductions they have to take or as an enabler to new things they have to do. So, it sounds like agencies need solutions that can yield results and quickly. So a service virtualization, can agencies expect to see cost savings; and, do the agencies really have the time to come up with new solutions for doing things? You know, Tammy, doing something new is often a -3-

4 barrier to incorporating change into your operation. So what we say is, let's do more of what works. The service virtualization may be new, but virtualization itself and that concept is a very successful and proven technology. Look what's happened in the datacenter world where 75 percent of Federal managers now see virtualization as a value driver in technology; 82 percent of Federal agencies have implemented server virtualization, as you referred before. But it's only addressing under 40 percent of the workload today, and they've got to go a lot higher. And so in, some ways that server virtualization has taken the low-hanging fruit, and there's a lot more challenge. With service virtualization, the agents are going to be able to attack additional areas in infrastructure and the application lifecycle to drive further costs out. That's very enlightening, Madeline. Are there any other ideas or best practices that you can suggest that maybe haven't been implemented yet? Well, I do, and I'm not the only one. In fact, as you know, government IT is under tremendous scrutiny. It used to be, if you will, the engine behind the scenes, a separate department. But the government is no different than other organizations where these application platforms -4-

5 are really the mission delivery system. And they are front and center to stakeholders and citizens today because of the mobile outpush, because of the digital directive that was taken. And so, between scrutiny and innovation, again, there's a need to find a way to take suggestions, to take available technology. Now, the reason we're not the only ones to look at this is the Congress is taking a look at it, but over the years the Inspector General offices have also cited in any number of cases the lack of appropriate integration testing, the lack of access to good environments. All of those use cases I talked about up front, Tammy, as what service virtualization provides in a capability. It sounds like IBM really has an innovative approach to improve the agility and the productivity of the application delivery process at the same time supporting next-generation initiatives and gaining cost savings. So, Madeline, if our listeners would like to know more about service virtualization and how to get started, can you tell them what they might need to do? Yes, I'd like to point them to a couple of assets. And when I do that, I'd like them to look for the information on how they can save costs on improving the -5-

6 software delivery capability by finding more agile ways of going through the delivery cycle and accelerate with an automation capability. And secondly, reducing the actual infrastructure costs because those virtual environments are no longer going to be dependent on hardware and software access and expert labor. So look for those messages when you go to the IBM website. Let me give you that URL. It's ibm.co/servicevirtualization. And of course, anyone listening to this podcast can contact me. My address is Thanks, Madeline. And I want to mention that you mentioned the website ibm.co/servicevirtualization, and on that site is an excellent resource for getting to know everything there is to know about service virtualization. And it's called Service Virtualization for Dummies. So, there is an excellent asset to get any listener started. Well, thank you very much, Madeline, for your time today. I think, as I previously stated, IBM really has an innovative approach. And I hope our listeners will reach out and learn more. GIST: Thank you, Madeline and Tammy. A good discussion on service virtualization to help our customers -6-

7 moving forward. We sincerely appreciate you joining us today to share your expertise. That was Madeline Bayliss, U.S. Federal quality management sales lead, and Tammy Kulesa, worldwide go to market manager of government and Smarter Cities for IBM Rational, with some key points for today's podcast event, Driving the Cost Out of Application Lifecycle With Service Virtualization. And as a reminder, I'd like to encourage you to visit ibm.co/servicevirtualization where you can get information how to get your copy of Service Virtualization for Dummies. To hear this specific podcast or to browse additional topics, check out our Rational Talks to You podcast page at ibm.com/rational/podcasts. This has been an IBM podcast. I'm your moderator, Kimberly Gist. Thank you for listening, and we hope that you will choose to keep tuning in as Rational Talks to You. IBM Podcast [ MUSIC ] [END OF SEGMENT] -7-