Eagle Eye selects Rackspace DevOps Automation to help deploy applications faster

Eagle Eye, a UK leader in digital consumer engagement, will use the Rackspace DevOps Automation service to manage a cloud-based infrastructure which supports its product network for offers, vouchers and reward transactions.

Rackspace DevOps Automation service will enable Eagle Eye to deploy new features faster and quickly scale out its existing technology infrastructure, which can help improve developer productivity.

Founded in 2003, Eagle Eye processes more than two million transactions per month for over 80 customers including retail giants Tesco and Marks and Spencer. Eagle Eye’s AIR platform allows retailers to seamlessly integrate coupons into loyalty programmes and deliver vouchers and rewards directly to customers’ devices, all while building up valuable profile information which helps retailers more effectively target shoppers with personalised offers.

By working with Rackspace DevOps experts, the company will be able to automate the process of deploying and scaling hybrid cloud infrastructures for its AIR platform applications, while also rolling out additional insight and monitoring tools.

Steve Rothwell, founder and director, Eagle Eye said: “With the help of the DevOps specialists at Rackspace, we can react to the market like never before. We now have the flexibility to scale up and down and get products to potential and existing customers faster. We let Rackspace focus on our infrastructure and the tools we need to run more efficiently and our team can focus on writing code for our products. It’s the perfect fit.”

Rackspace originally worked with Eagle Eye in 2008 delivering a managed cloud solution that had infrastructure expertise available 24/7, which kept payroll costs down by reducing the need to hire. Now, with Rackspace DevOps Automation Service, Eagle Eye’s own internal DevOps team can collaborate with Rackspace specialists to discuss real time application insight and performance metrics. This allows Eagle Eye to make decisions about application architecture and help ensure the infrastructure automation is optimal in respect to market conditions.

DevOps Automation is part of a Managed Operations service level, which means Rackspace also provides the ongoing management of the automation by managing updates, security patches and the latest versions of environment stacks.

Chris Jackson, ‎Practice Area CTO (DevOps) at Rackspace said: “Rackspace has been working with Eagle Eye for several years, and this is just the next step in our work together. DevOps has become a formally-recognised technology discipline for IT professionals and is therefore an increasingly sought after skill set for businesses, and Eagle Eye’s investment in both internal and external specialists highlight this. Our DevOps specialists don’t only work closely with both Eagle Eye, but also the lead engineer at Rackspace to ensure their service is enhanced while running on a strong infrastructure foundation.”

Eagle Eye sees DevOps as a critical aide to growth rather than a secondary investment. A recent Vanson & Bourne study* into the awareness and prevalence of DevOps projects in UK businesses showed:
· 37 per cent of organisations had a DevOps strategy – either running a live project or using accepted DevOps processes
· 47 per cent that had not, the biggest reason was that there were more urgent financial priorities
· 16 per cent did not know if they have a DevOps strategy in place

DevOps integrates the combined roles of both developers and operations teams in order to improve collaboration and productivity by automating infrastructure, workflows and continuously measuring application performance. Rackspace’s highly-trained DevOps specialists help pull all this together and enable businesses to achieve competitive advantage by increasing velocity, reducing time-to-market and giving real time performance monitoring and insight. As a part of the offering, Rackspace takes responsibility for writing and maintaining the automation that enables customers to build fully configured application servers.

*About the study: The study was conducted by Vanson Bourne and commissioned by Rackspace. Vanson Bourne is an independent specialist in market research for the technology sector.

Methodology: In June 2014, Vanson Bourne conducted 100 interviews with IT decision makers in private sector organisations of 1000 or more employees. The study focused on the sectors of retail, distribution and transport, manufacturing, financial services and other commercial.