DEVOPSdigest

CA Technologies announced the open registration for the FreshTracks.io beta program, one of the latest innovations stemming from the CA Accelerator program, bringing the total to 10 start-ups currently enrolled in the incubator.

The CA Accelerator incubations function like lean startups within the company, where internal innovators receive support and funding to develop and test new product ideas in the marketplace.

As CA’s engineers sought to monitor their evolving microservices with existing solutions, the idea for FreshTracks was born. For example, FreshTracks.io was founded to solve the real problems experienced in monitoring and scaling containerized applications. Leveraging CA’s expertise in the container space, the FreshTracks.io team started with a clean slate, enabling their teams to focus on the problem from the perspective of the customer experience, rather than existing legacy tools. Utilizing open source technology as the foundation, the team layered in machine learning to build a self-learning monitoring system capable of real-time intelligent alerting. The result was a cost-effective, fast-to-market solution for teams serious about container operations, particularly teams using Prometheus together with Kubernetes.

Current container monitoring tools do a good job collecting metrics about the state of applications, but they fall short when providing dynamic anomaly detection to allow engineers to act based on those metrics. FreshTracks.io uses machine learning to provide intelligent alerts enabling applications to be highly available. Actionable alerts ensure engineers spend more time where it matters.

With a strong demand for container management technology as machine learning and automation make their way into businesses, this is the fourth container-focused project born out of the CA Accelerator.

“The CA Accelerator culture values innovation and is changing the way we think about solving customer challenges. Through our own experiences, we realized the need for container monitoring and made our own solution to share with others who are facing similar challenges,” said Bob Cotton, co-founder of FreshTracks.io. “We are excited about the market opportunity in this emerging area for developers, and it was the flexibility and resources of the Accelerator program that made FreshTracks.io a reality.”

The CA Accelerator Program

Rather than relying on the traditional innovation model of making a few big investments on long-term development projects that often miss opportunities due to lock-in and/or flawed assumptions, the CA Accelerator nurtures many small projects that can rapidly work their way to success.

The program’s Incubation Rotation helps mitigate risks for employees transferring into the CA Accelerator. During the 12-month rotation, the CA employee’s position is held within the company, allowing the employee to develop his or her business, while providing the freedom to pursue creative ideas to the fullest extent. Over 100 CA employees have joined the program to date.

Born in 2016, the CA Accelerator helps drive and foster the company’s culture to be more agile and innovative. CA Jarvis, an internal analytics engine and the CA Accelerator’s most successful project to date, has been integrated into CA’s Agile Operations, API Management and Security lines of business. CA Jarvis is just one example of how the CA Accelerator program helps power CA’s existing software portfolio and drives the cultural shift across the company.

“When we started the CA Accelerator program last year, it was not just to bring innovative ideas to life within the company,” said Otto Berkes, CTO of CA Technologies. “We also wanted to ensure that the CA Accelerator could serve as a North Star guiding us through the accelerating cultural and technological shifts we are seeing within the industry. Seeing our incubation teams and our customers collaborating closely to solve tomorrow’s challenges is deeply gratifying.”