arago AG from Frankfurt, Germany have released the AutoPilot Community Edition, a free of charge version of its knowledge based automation solution for IT operations. The edition addressed small and midsize businesses and startups who are not able to lift the financial act to invest in a modern automation platform.

Autopilot Community Edition

The free of charge AutoPilot edition can be used in environments with up to five systems without any limits. With its knowledge based approach the solution uses the existing enterprise knowledge to autonomous and dynamically automate IT operations by using capabilities like artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analytics. The community edition based on exactly the same similar functions as the enterprise edition. The AutoPilot initially needs to be feed with the necessary knowledge to administrate IT operations, which is stored in the so called knowledge items. Afterwards the solution works like an autonomous administrator by flexible and on demand combining the knowledge into tasks.

Knowledge Community TabTab

Besides five systems the AutoPilot Community Edition can be extended with up to 25 administrated systems. For this purpose an IT expert should participate the new Knowledge Community TabTab, which will start early 2014 and act as a platform for exchanging knowledge items. AutoPilot users are empowered to share their knowledge items with the community and in return to get the knowledge items of other IT experts to extend the knowledge base of their AutoPilot.

As CEO Chris Boos told me during GigaOM Structure Europe, he sees a win-win situation for all involved with the release of both the AutoPilot Community Edition and the Knowledge Community. On the one hand small businesses and startups obtain the capabilities to use a powerful automation solution free of charge. On the other hand arago gets feedback from the community to enhance the AutoPilot more efficient. Moreover Boos especially sees for IT experts the advantage to present their expertise the worldwide IT community using TabTab.

Disruptive: Crowdsourcing for IT operations

After arago and its AutoPilot are on a good way to turn IT operations upside down, the company from Frankfurt, Germany makes the next logical steps to preserve the important knowledge for the AutoPilot. The Knowledge Community TabTab on the one hand becomes a knowledge platform for AutoPilot users to share their knowledge with other users and in return extend their on knowledge base. On the other hand arago gets the opportunity to extend the global AutoPilot knowledge base to a maximum to steadily improve the intelligence of the overall system. For arago the advantage especially persists in the fact to obtain more and more knowledge about not standardized and heterogeneous environments and individual applications to wisely react much better on unplanned situations.

Small businesses and startups should consider the free use of the AutoPilot Community Edition to solely concentrate on its core business and not to bind its important resources and staff exclusively at IT operations, which essentially is responsible for the maintenance of the enterprise IT.