Ansible Automation Drives Enterprise Efficiency Across IBM Infrastructure

Scaling Automation from Simple Tasks to Complex Workflows

In today's hybrid IT environment, managing diverse infrastructure across mainframes, Power systems, and cloud platforms while maintaining consistency and compliance is essential. Enterprise organizations worldwide have turned to Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform on IBM infrastructure to navigate this complexity. The result: streamlined operations, reduced manual effort, and consistent automation across heterogeneous environments.

Challenge: Managing Complexity Across Heterogeneous IT Environments

Organizations running IBM infrastructure face common operational challenges:

• Manual configuration and deployment processes that slow operations and introduce human error

• Fragmented automation tools creating inconsistent practices across platforms

• Lack of visibility and auditability into configuration changes and who made them

• Increasing pressure to optimize operations while maintaining security and compliance standards

• Difficulty scaling automation across data centers, Power systems, mainframes, and cloud environments.

Enterprise automation requires not only powerful tools but also consistent practices that work across diverse platforms. Legacy approaches with platform-specific scripts and manual processes created operational silos, increased maintenance burden, and prevented teams from achieving true infrastructure as code.

Solution: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform on IBM Infrastructure

To address these challenges, organizations implemented Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform across their IBM infrastructure - a comprehensive solution that unifies automation practices from mainframes to cloud environments.

Key capabilities deployed included:

• Automation controller on IBM Power, IBM Z, and IBM LinuxONE for centralized orchestration

• Red Hat Ansible Certified Content Collections for AIX, IBM i, z/OS, and Linux environments

• Custom automation execution environment containers for IBM platforms

• Event-Driven Ansible for automated response to infrastructure events

• Integration with IBM watsonx Code Assistant for AI-accelerated playbook development

• Native support for infrastructure as code and version-controlled automation

These capabilities helped organizations build a unified automation foundation, enabling consistent practices, transparent change management, and scalable operations across their entire IBM infrastructure portfolio.

Results: Operational Excellence at Enterprise Scale

The impact of Ansible Automation Platform on IBM infrastructure has been significant across enterprises:

Streamlined Operations

• Reduced manual configuration effort by 60-70% through automated playbook execution

• Enabled centralized automation management with full auditability and transparency

• Simplified complex workflows from batch orchestration to CI/CD pipeline integration

Accelerated Deployment

• Faster software installation, patching, and compliance management across platforms

• Automated certificate renewal and system maintenance tasks

• Reduced deployment times through reusable, version-controlled playbooks

Enhanced Consistency

• Enabled common approach for hybrid applications and infrastructure management across IBM Power, Z, and cloud environments

• Standardized automation practices replacing platform-specific manual processes

• Improved compliance through consistent configuration management

Skills Optimization

• Leveraged Ansible and Python skills readily available in the marketplace instead of platform-specific expertise

• Accelerated playbook development with AI-powered content recommendations

• Enabled developers of all skill levels to contribute to automation initiatives

Operational Efficiency

• Reduced time-to-value for new automation use cases

• Eliminated repetitive manual tasks through event-driven automation

• Improved system reliability through consistent configuration and change management

Conclusion: Automation as a Strategic Advantage

By deploying Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform on IBM infrastructure, these organizations transformed IT operations into a strategic advantage. The platform's unified approach helped them eliminate manual processes, ensure consistency across heterogeneous environments, and scale automation efficiently.

Since the IBM Power collections launched in 2020, widespread adoption of Ansible Automation Platform has enabled customers to optimize operations and refine use cases from simple configuration management to complex enterprise workflows. As organizations continue to expand their hybrid cloud strategies with AI workloads and distributed applications, unified automation platforms will become increasingly critical. Expert implementation partners empower enterprises to unlock the full potential of Ansible Automation Platform across their IBM infrastructure for lasting operational impact.