Success story
British Army speeds service delivery and improves user experience
Fast facts
- Industry: Government
- Region: EMEA
- Headquarters: Andover, United Kingdom
- Company size: More than 100,000 trained regular and reserve personnel
Overview
The British Army’s Information Application Services (IAS) Branch delivers software applications, hosting, and web services to families, veterans, and personnel deployed around the world. To overcome issues with unplanned downtime and support, IAS used Red Hat® solutions to migrate its private cloud environment and deploy simplified, automated management tools. Now IAS can make changes faster and more efficiently, cutting change delivery time by 75%.
The path to success
Challenge: Create a faster, more efficient IT environment
Due to problems with support, performance, and availability, the British Army’s IAS Branch needed to migrate from its Oracle private cloud environment. The system caused unplanned downtime during upgrades, disrupted users, and slowed update deployment. “There’s always pressure to deliver quickly,” said Lt. Col. Dorian Seabrook, head of operations at the British Army’s IAS Branch. “We have to be more efficient in how we deliver software, as well as underlying infrastructure, upgrades, maintenance, and support.”
Case study
British Army speeds service delivery with Ansible Tower by Red Hat
Solution: Migrate IT platform and deploy management tool
IAS decided to migrate from Oracle Linux to Red Hat Enterprise Linux®, moving from physical infrastructure to a software-defined datacenter. To streamline management of its new environment, IAS used Ansible Tower by Red Hat, an automation and orchestration tool, to improve consistency, reduce manual errors, and support a DevOps delivery approach. “We were redefining our operating model and wanted to deliver software faster and more efficiently to meet end users’ requirements,” said Seabrook.
Software & services
- Ansible Tower by Red Hat
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux®
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Resilient Storage Add-On
Results: Improve speed and automate service delivery
With the new system, IAS gained easier, more accurate management, cutting patching time and significantly reducing launch errors and configuration issues. Also, upgrades that previously took a day—and caused hours of system downtime each month—can now be performed in less than 2 hours with high availability. Overall, change delivery is now typically 75% faster. “Rather than bulk delivery, we’re able to deliver incrementally, and we no longer frustrate users with significant downtime during working hours,” said Seabrook.