Startup Rafay Systems Inc. today announced a new platform for customers that combines its cloud environment and Kubernetes automation services into a single offering.

The new Rafay Cloud Automation Platform is the evolution of Rafay’s existing Kubernetes Operations Platform. The company said it will enable companies to deliver superior automation and self-service capabilities to teams of developers, data scientists and other users.

Kubernetes is open-source software that sits at the heart of modern enterprise’s information technology stacks. The software used to orchestrate and manage the containers that host the components of modern applications that can be deployed on any computing platform. It is increasingly being viewed as essential for modern application developers, but though it simplifies the software development process, it’s also notoriously difficult to set up and run.

Rafay’s flagship platform is designed to automate Kubernetes cluster management, modern application deployment and infrastructure operations at scale. Using its platform, companies can govern, manage and monitor multiple Kubernetes clusters and distributions, as well as the applications within them, at scale and in environments ranging from the cloud to the edge.

With the debut of its Rafay Cloud Automation Platform, the startup is now offering self-service automation for teams to provision and manage their entire information technology stack, including the underlying infrastructure, environments, clusters and applications, in a single package. In other words, it’s providing teams with everything they need to support modern applications within any computing environment.

It helps teams to take advantage of Kubernetes with minimal complexity and risk, and can also reduce the associated infrastructure costs by optimizing performance. Rafay says its software has been widely adopted in industries such as the financial services, healthcare, travel, technology and life sciences sectors.

For example, the Rafay Cloud Automation Platform provides access to self-service infrastructure templates for generative artificial intelligence applications, enabling developers and data scientists to deploy new models in production rapidly. Using its software, teams can manage the continuous operations of their AI apps with minimal effort, the startup said.

The platform was announced at AWS re:Invent 2023, where it’s being showcased in the company’s booth for the duration of the conference. It includes an AI/data science workbench-as-a-service offering that enables AI developers to jumpstart experimentation initiatives.

It also offers landing zones and environments-as-a-service that give developers the ability to provision and access ready-made cloud environments that come complete with all of the service dependencies they require. Finally, it offers namespaces and clusters-as-a-service capabilities, providing access to Kubernetes clusters with role-based access controls, network policy and cost management.

Rafay co-founder and Chief Executive Haseeb Budhani (pictured) said most companies simply dump the responsibility of dealing with the inherent complexities of automating cloud environments and Kubernetes on their software developer teams.

“These complexities shouldn’t be delegated to developers,” he said. “To innovate faster, developers should be shielded from these complexities. Rafay’s Cloud Automation Platform provides an automation solution for platform teams, bridging the complexity gap so enterprises can focus on rapid innovation rather than cloud environment and Kubernetes management.”

Rafay said companies that adopt self-service workflows will benefit from more rapid innovation and lower operational risks. They’re paying attention too, as research from Gartner Inc. suggests 80% of large organizations intend to establish platform engineering teams as internal providers of reusable services, components and tools for application delivery, including self-service portals for developers.

Budhani has been a regular guest on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s video platform, where he has previously discussed how Rafay’s platform has helped to simplify Kubernetes operations for companies including data intelligence firm Alation Inc., financial services provider Moneygram International Inc. and American Airlines Inc.

In his most recent appearance on theCUBE in February, Budhani discussed the enormous value that Rafay’s cloud transformation and platform organization capabilities can provide to customers:

Photo: SiliconANGLE