GitHub for Enterprises
GitHub is a
collaborative coding website allowing many users to publically upload their string
of code to a database of previously prepared codes. The large
amount of data and codes online is currently a huge help for software
developers and individual coders since it could possibly cut a good amount of
time needed to build full project—assuming the coder is knowledgeable in
adapting them and much of the code can be found online. The interesting route
Chris Wanstrath, GitHub’s CEO and co-founder, decided to take is to create the
“2.0 version” of social coding platform for businesses where companies will be
able to host code on their private cloud environments.
The codes
created and uploaded would only be available to the company itself, using
hosting services from Amazon’s Web Service unit and along with extras: various
security tools, audit logs, and more. Business project developers and coders
now have a cloud-based platform to collaborate and write code from virtually
anywhere. Rather than emailing codes back and forth around the business from
one IT department to another (in the same business), GitHub’s Enterprise
updates allow everyone to get involved in the development process in one online
spot.
One of the
first ideas that came to mind was the ease of integration through this process.
When Dhananjaya Dvivedi, technologist of Shinsei Bank, was in charge of
restructuring IT, he could have use GitHub (with the data of today) to make his
integration process even easier. When Bank of New York and Mellon was merging,
the technology was widely different in that different people were operating
different systems. GitHub Enterprise would have allowed easy collaboration
through the cloud to see what works and what doesn’t. Software developers could
break down functions of each project, upload them to the company’s private
cloud, and tag each code with specific names to represent its function.
Integration from that point is just pulling what is necessary, and sometimes
even adding codes one previously never knew. Synergy can happen in coding as
well when two businesses integrate.
Software
development is becoming of growing importance within companies since the
Internet has become such a necessity of many of our lives. We can see the
Internet transform many business models throughout many industries time over
time. Businesses will strive to develop their technology day in and day out
because at the end of the day, technology is cheap, efficient and may give one
a competitive advantage. And, with that said, we need to further the experience
and knowledge of everyone, including employees; so, this is where GitHub plays
a role. By upgrading its Enterprise offering to companies, they can protect
their codes, build a more efficient coding team, and grow their software IT
division, furthering potential growth opportunities within the business. “The
goal is to dramatically increase visibility and communication across projects
that traditionally may have fallen into corporate silos” (Norton).[1]
Perre Peraj
[1] http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/11/11/github-collaborative-coding-site-upgrades-enterprise-offering-as-software-development-goes-beyond-it/?mod=ST1
1 comment:
GitHub’s collaborative coding upgrade is an interesting concept that at first glance appears to have significant merits. GitHub, as Perre pointed out, has traditionally provided users the opportunity to publicly upload code. The upgrade GitHub is offering allows companies to upload code into a private cloud available only to their employees. This allows for collaboration within the cloud company-wide with the utmost privacy. Engineers and coders are usually the only ones to have a hand in creating code, but through this upgrade, anyone in the company can view the creation of the code. What GitHub CEO Chris Wanstrath neglects to point out in the Wall Street Journal article is that every person who accesses the private cloud will have to pay for it. Access is paid for per employee, so the view that this new upgrade will allow everyone to view the code whenever they want in whatever capacity the company deems necessary seems somewhat misleading. Company-wide participation or access to the cloud is feasible, but will rarely be implemented because of the huge costs it would rack up. GitHub’s private cloud collaboration on a company by company basis still has its merits for companies who really do need the privacy, but I would disagree with the idea that it will expand who gets access to the code, and in fact may limit it.
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