9th BIT Consulting, specialist in implementing SOA solutions, middleware integration and products, has announced it has been appointed as a distribution partner of DBmaestro, a pioneer in the complex field of DevOps for databases.
DevOps is generally associated with software development and enterprise IT infrastructures. It is a loosely defined set of methodologies focused on collaboration and communication, while automating the process of software delivery and infrastructure changes. According to Wikipedia, DevOps processes create an environment in which building, testing and releasing software, can happen rapidly, frequently and more reliably.
Barry de Waal, chief executive: strategy and sales at 9th BIT Consulting, says that, to date, the one area in which DevOps has not been successful is the database. “Enterprise databases hold sensitive information and administrators are paranoid about quality, reliability and testing. And rightly so, changes to the database structure or the associated scripts and applications could result in an error which may impact the entire company.”
“DBmaestro changes this situation and enables agile development and continuous integration and delivery in the database world.”
The result is an increase in the speed with which database changes can be made safely and securely, as well as an assurance of the quality of any new development. This leads to the delivery of improved business value from the IT department as it is able to meet changing market requirements faster and more reliably.
Three key elements DBmaestro delivers are:

• Database Automation to safely deploy changes to production with a fully automated, error-proof deployment process in accordance with business requirements.

• Database Enforced Source Control which guarantees a single source of truth for your database development assets while avoiding applications downtime.

• Database Enhanced Security and Regulatory Compliance.
These elements bring true continuous delivery – complete with the best practices proven effective for application development – to the database.
Organisations will be able to dramatically increase productivity and reduce development costs while leveraging features and functionality beyond what’s achievable using manual work or simple compare-and-sync tools,.
Explains De Waal: “These elements are supported and managed by a continuous cycle of assessment to ensure all parties, from database administrators through to the customer, experience continuous delivery and improvement.”
DBmaestro currently supports Oracle and SQL Server databases, which De Waal says will cover the dominant share of the market. Support for other databases is in the pipeline. Another benefit of DBmaestro’s suite of products is that multiple databases can be managed from the same solution, making the process of continuous quality and improvement standard across the enterprise.
Danny Neuberger, DBmaestro’s senior vice-president of sales for EMEA and APAC, comments: “We are delighted to have 9th BIT, a leading South African DevOps company, becoming our distribution partner. We see a strong demand for DBmaestro TeamWork, our leading DevOps for Database solution, and a local partner will definitely help us to accelerate the adoption.”
“9th BIT Consulting is South Africa’s leading expert in the DevOps space and we have now expanded our scope of operations and our skills base to include the database as well,” concludes De Waal. “With DBmaestro on board, we can assist in improving agile team collaboration while streamlining development process management and enforcing change policy practices.”