QBE approached IBM to help launch a proof of concept (POC) for the UrbanCode Deploy automated application deployment offering. The company was also interested in exploring the tool’s UrbanCode Blueprint Designer component, designed to accelerate testing and enable the quick provisioning of, and deployment to, cloud-based environments.
Following a successful POC based in North America, QBE’s leadership was eager to move forward with a full UrbanCode Deploy implementation across geographies. “When we saw how much faster we could stand up a complete development environment with UrbanCode Deploy, we immediately wanted to extend the solution to our other regions,” says Syed Ataur, Global Technical Lead for QBE.
Working within a tight timeframe, QBE and IBM designed and deployed an expanded UrbanCode Deploy solution that included the Blueprint Designer module. “We had six months to build this capability for delivering end-to-end development environments for our primary applications,” says Ataur. “In just four or five months, we were in production.”
Blueprint Designer: “build once, deploy to many”
The implementation provides QBE’s global IT team with a centralized self-service portal for rapidly standing up—and easily tearing down—development infrastructure on an as-needed basis. The UrbanCode Deploy platform serves as a front-end interface for developers to access infrastructure resources, including Blueprint Designer functionality for creating full-stack templates.
QBE developers can use the Blueprint Designer templates to quickly launch infrastructure for short-term testing purposes or for longer-term projects, including fully networked virtual machines. Plus, the IT group can automate app deployment to public or private environments with the functionality. “We now have a centralized ‘build once, deploy to many’ scenario for our developers,” says Ataur.
Additionally, QBE regional Data Scientist teams deploy infrastructure for the company’s billable data analytics platform (GDAP) with the UrbanCode solution. In total, QBE uses the platform in conjunction with approximately 400 applications and also employs the technology to automate core business processes.