Automation is a driving force in modern IT, enabling organizations to streamline operations, improve efficiency, and reduce costs. However, it can be challenging to create and maintain automation content (e.g., Ansible Playbooks), particularly for teams with varying levels of expertise. That's where Red Hat Ansible Lightspeed comes in. This innovative AI tool simplifies the automation journey by enabling faster, smarter, and more collaborative playbook development.
We will explore three key use cases for Ansible Lightspeed and how it resolves common automation challenges for organizations.
1. Simplifying playbook creation for all skill levels
For many teams, the steep learning curve of automation tools like Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is a barrier to adoption. Ansible Lightspeed breaks down these barriers by providing these intuitive features that support users across all skill levels:
Automation content and education: Ansible Lightspeed generates automation content and explains syntax and structure to help novice users understand and apply best practices, thereby reducing the YAML learning curve.
Guided playbook creation: By leveraging guided chat interfaces, Ansible Lightspeed helps users define their requirements and automatically generate tailored playbooks.
Faster development for experts: Experienced users benefit from faster playbook development by over 50% in many cases.
This collaborative approach ensures that teams can create high-quality automation content efficiently, whether they’re just starting out or managing complex infrastructure. During the Ansible Lightspeed pilot phase, we observed a 30% reduction in playbook development efforts without compromising on quality or security.
2. Improving existing automation code
Maintaining and optimizing automation content is just as important as creating it. Ansible Lightspeed excels in this area, offering these AI-powered insights and tools that enhance existing playbooks:
Post-processing recommendations: Ansible Lightspeed applies Ansible Automation Platform best practices to suggest improvements to make sure automation remains compliant, efficient, and scalable.
CodeBot for Git integration: This tool analyzes code repositories, identifies areas for improvement, and submits pull requests with actionable suggestions. For example, CodeBot can help optimize playbooks for newer versions of operating systems or Ansible Automation Platform.
Custom playbook refinement: Organizations can tune Ansible Lightspeed on their unique automation patterns, ensuring recommendations align with their established workflows.
These tools save time and boost developer confidence. Organizations report a significant reduction in critical playbook failures after adopting Ansible Lightspeed.
3. Enhance collaboration and security across teams
Here are just a few ways Ansible Lightspeed fosters collaboration between developers and operators, bridging the gap between automation ideas and execution.
Seamless workflow integration: Anisble Lightspeed integrates with tools like Visual Studio Code and connects directly to the Ansible Automation Platform, providing a familiar and efficient user experience.
On-premise deployment options: For organizations with strict security requirements, Ansible Lightspeed offers on-premise deployment through IBM Cloud Pak for Data, ensuring data sovereignty and compliance. All data is encrypted and stored securely in customer-owned environments.
Cross-domain expertise: The AI model trains on validated Ansible Automation Platform datasets and extends expertise across multiple automation domains, including cloud, networking, and edge computing.
By enabling teams to work more collaboratively and securely, Ansible Lightspeed empowers organizations to scale their automation efforts with confidence. For instance, a Fortune 500 financial services company estimated $80 million in savings over three years, thanks to Ansible Lightspeed.
The road ahead for Ansible Lightspeed
Red Hat Ansible Lightspeed continues to evolve with exciting features on the horizon such as:
Event-driven automation: Support for rulebook-based workflows will make it easier to trigger playbooks based on specific events.
Deeper integration with Red Hat AI: Future updates will align with Red Hat OpenShift AI and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) AI, expanding Ansible Lightspeed’s capabilities.
Advanced playbook discovery: Ansible Lightspeed will soon include tools to find and leverage existing Ansible Automation Platform content, reducing the need for teams to start from scratch.
Chatbot in Ansible Automation Platform: This will allow operators to ask questions about the platform, their Ansible Automation Platform jobs, reporting metrics, and streamline the process for users.
Next steps
Explore the capabilities of Red Hat Anisble Lightspeed with a 90-day trial for existing users.
- New to Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform? We've got you covered: try a 60-day free trial. You can also reach out to your Red Hat contacts to learn more.
Thanks to Steve Fulmer and Marty Turner for reviewing this article.
