Similar to how GPS technology helps people to navigate physical infrastructure, the IBM Cloud Infrastructure Visualizer maps out virtual network infrastructure and converts it into an interactive map. This birds-eye view allows users to visualize how resources are interconnected, how are they configured, and suggests actions to take in case something isn’t working as expected. With this tool, IT Administrators will no longer be stuck navigating their virtual infrastructure and instead, they can focus their energies on other tasks that require their technical expertise more and bring value to their enterprises.

Cloud infrastructure environments are extremely difficult to navigate, even for experienced Information Technology Administrators. This is because of the overwhelming number of interconnected resources, relationships, and configurations among these, which enable enterprises to run mission-critical applications on the cloud. Yet, all this information is not easy to process due to the way it is being presented. Solutions on the market don’t fully meet the needs of users, so they must rely on time-consuming tasks to help them decipher their virtual layouts. This leads to wasted productivity and money spent on troubleshooting misconfigurations, as well as potential gaps in the performance and security of the infrastructure. With so much at stake, it is key for IT Administrators, who oversee the infrastructure of their organizations, to have a clear understanding of its architecture. A cross-functional team at IBM explored ways to address this market gap and help optimize users’ workflows, spawning the “IBM Cloud Infrastructure Visualizer” concept project.

You can read more about it in a blog post here, and view our team's award submission here.