Kong announced the launch of the latest version of Kong AI Gateway, which introduces new features to provide the AI security and governance guardrails needed to make GenAI and Agentic AI production-ready.
Real digital transformation is built on a foundation of adaptability and the ability to embrace change. As we all face new challenges, I am offering some tips as a way to look deeply at your distributed work that is occurring and evaluate where and how it might be improved.
Start with Building Resilience in Geographically Distributed Teams - Part 1
Here are a few more things to look for when considering a partner or moving into this space on your own:
1. Team Distribution
Beyond mere geographic distribution, how well do your teams work if they are distributed in multiple locations? Can you get specialists from a geography quickly and onboard them onto a team whose main contingent is elsewhere?
2. Work from Home
Can your team work from their homes? Will this distribution impact team norms or processes? How well is this contingency planned for?
3. Company Culture
Do teams embrace distributed culture and the opportunities it provides, or do they still prefer to work in the same location?
4. Certifications and Standards
Certifications such as ISO 27001 standardize how organizations operate. If distributed execution principles are built into the company’s standards, all the better. These codified processes allow them to function in a distributed fashion more cleanly and with fewer question marks that team members themselves need to resolve. The playbook is in place and IT and teams can execute that playbook. You can also worry less about data, code, and environments knowing that these certifications very often govern how teams handle these items.
5. Mature Development Processes
Does your vendor have a mature, documented development process with enough flexibility to handle your specific needs? If they do, they will be better able to handle the distributed model.
6. Cloud-Based DevOps
Look for a vendor that utilizes cloud development and cloud-based infrastructure for much of their work, including DevOps best practices. This type of maturity means that systems and source code can easily be protected, mirrored, and backed-up across multiple geographies. It also means that code and test systems are less likely to be hosted in local, insecure data centers or server rooms that might be more likely to suffer an outage in the event of a localized issue.
7. Tool Use
Use of work-management systems like Jira and standardized workflows ensure that work is tracked and Scrum Masters (and you) have clear visibility into the health of development. By ensuring that requirements, designs, work processes, and task assignments are the same on every project and that none of these things rely on physical co-location of teams, a truly distributed team is equipped to meet distributed development challenges.
8. Video and Real-Time Communication Come Standard
Every distributed team should use these tools to communicate among themselves and with their clients. They should not miss a beat - and they should know how to make remote meetings feel more like face-to-face meetings.
If you are looking for a digital transformation partner, look for one that has resilience built into its work processes and culture. Even if a vendor has teams physically located in the same place they should adhere to the processes and guidelines listed above. If they do, suddenly working from home and being not physically located together does not pose an issue, nor will it negatively impact performance or communication.
Industry News
Traefik Labs announced significant enhancements to its AI Gateway platform along with new developer tools designed to streamline enterprise AI adoption and API development.
Zencoder released its next-generation AI coding and unit testing agents, designed to accelerate software development for professional engineers.
Windsurf (formerly Codeium) and Netlify announced a new technology partnership that brings seamless, one-click deployment directly into the developer's integrated development environment (IDE.)
The Cloud Native Computing Foundation® (CNCF®), which builds sustainable ecosystems for cloud native software, is making significant updates to its certification offerings.
The Cloud Native Computing Foundation® (CNCF®), which builds sustainable ecosystems for cloud native software, announced the Golden Kubestronaut program, a distinguished recognition for professionals who have demonstrated the highest level of expertise in Kubernetes, cloud native technologies, and Linux administration.
Red Hat announced new capabilities and enhancements for Red Hat Developer Hub, Red Hat’s enterprise-grade internal developer portal based on the Backstage project.
Platform9 announced that Private Cloud Director Community Edition is generally available.
Sonatype expanded support for software development in Rust via the Cargo registry to the entire Sonatype product suite.
CloudBolt Software announced its acquisition of StormForge, a provider of machine learning-powered Kubernetes resource optimization.
Mirantis announced the k0rdent Application Catalog – with 19 validated infrastructure and software integrations that empower platform engineers to accelerate the delivery of cloud-native and AI workloads wherever the\y need to be deployed.
Traefik Labs announced its Kubernetes-native API Management product suite is now available on the Oracle Cloud Marketplace.
webAI and MacStadium(link is external) announced a strategic partnership that will revolutionize the deployment of large-scale artificial intelligence models using Apple's cutting-edge silicon technology.
Development work on the Linux kernel — the core software that underpins the open source Linux operating system — has a new infrastructure partner in Akamai. The company's cloud computing service and content delivery network (CDN) will support kernel.org, the main distribution system for Linux kernel source code and the primary coordination vehicle for its global developer network.