By focusing on frequent code integration, automated testing, and keeping the mainline code version in a state that is deployable to production at any time, CI/CD aims to eliminate the risks and friction of traditional waterfall software development. Add to that the practice of continuous deployment and you can move to a situation where the latest and greatest software version is not just always ready to be deployed—it’s deployed on a frequent basis.

The practice and culture of CI/CD is supported by critical software tools that enable an application to go from new code version to fully tested feature delivery in alow-friction work flow with minimal human intervention. Alongside the evolution of highly virtualized, automatable cloud and container platforms, this innovation in delivery methods has contributed to the rapid increase in the number and functionality of applications in a typical enterprise. It’s no wonder applications are becoming a key asset of any business.

No matter how or where applications are deployed, however, they need the support of application services such as traffic management, content routing, bot defense, and API security. Most well-functioning CI/CD pipelines handle the integration and deployment of application code with minimal human intervention. However, many organizations still manage application services and policies—often manual configurations of network and security policy—through a slow, ticket-driven process.

This can sometimes lead to decisions to bypass corporate security policy, network operations,and other controls in favor of releasing code quickly. How can you ensure that critical applications get the services they require—without slowing down release cycles?