Red Hat unveils policy as code for Ansible Automation Platform

Red Hat has announced automated policy as code, a new capability slated for future versions of the Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform. This enhancement is said to drive policy-specific automation across hybrid cloud estates and better manage a rapidly growing number of AI applications.

The company shared this development at the annual Red Hat Summit. As part of their stride towards automation maturity, the policy as code feature deals with evolving internal or external requirements and is set to support the rising infrastructure needs of scaling AI workloads. The increasing adoption and scale of AI projects, especially in conjunction with hybrid cloud initiatives, lead to more complexity and sprawl. The automated policy as code aims to bring order to this sprawl and enforce critical compliance standards as AI-generated systems emerge.

A perspective by IDC highlighted how traditional IT operations teams are under constant pressure to improve efficiency and reduce costs despite facing skill gaps and inadequate resources. These teams are tasked with meeting the demands of robust innovation and swift time-to-market objectives while ensuring the resilience and reliability of IT services.

Red Hat recognises the exponential growth in challenges corresponding to the increased scale of AI across individual systems. Implementing policies across expansive workloads often demands substantial time, attention, collaboration, and extensive documentation. Manual processes are prone to human error, which can be expensive. Applying compliance directives to systems prior to becoming AI-centric is essential due to the significant impact of compliance mandates on system security, performance, and auditability.

The automation of policy as code is intended to help customers better align their technical environments and resources to meet specific governance, risk and compliance (GRC) requirements. Red Hat believes this feature will facilitate stricter control over potential AI sprawl across hybrid cloud estates while bolstering security for AI innovation.

With enhanced consistency of control, IT teams can confidently invest in new technologies thanks to built-in operational protection. These programmatic guardrails also ensure that AI is constructed on foundations already approved by the company, providing significant business value.

Red Hat has simplified the process of managing across pre- and post-AI workload lifecycles, liberating technology teams with automated audit reporting. The end-to-end Ansible Automation Platform delivers constant automation innovation, which includes new features like Red Hat Ansible Lightspeed and Event-Driven Ansible.

An AI service like Red Hat Ansible Lightspeed can expedite automation development, and with the impending policy as code capabilities, compliance requirements can be automatically maintained while creating automation content. This approach reduces the impact of skills gaps and human error on IT operations.

The tech preview for automated policy as code for the Ansible Automation Platform is expected in the coming months. Customers and partners are encouraged to join advocacy groups where they can share and learn best practices. Partners can also initiate discussions on integration so that recommended best practices can be instantly enforceable or included in their service offerings.