In Jacksonville, Florida, the health information network Availity is undergoing a transformative period as it prepares to roll out a newly available AI agent integration between its DevSecOps platform and cloud provider. The company, established in 2001, specializes in facilitating financial transactions between healthcare providers and insurance companies. As part of its modernization efforts, Availity is migrating to the AWS cloud, consolidating tools, and updating legacy applications to support a more streamlined microservices architecture.
The task of managing numerous changes simultaneously in a heavily regulated environment poses a significant challenge for the team of six individuals responsible for testing code before it goes live. Elizabeth Dobelstein, the manager of build and release engineering at Availity, expressed the complexity of the situation. She highlighted the interconnectedness of various microservices and the need to break down a monolithic architecture without disrupting essential services. Dobelstein emphasized the importance of modernizing Java applications, which have traditionally been a point of concern for many developers due to the complexities involved in updating them.
The introduction of the Amazon Q integration with GitLab Duo, which recently became available under GitLab’s Ultimate subscription, represents a significant breakthrough for Availity. This integration aims to provide valuable insights into the codebase earlier in the development process, allowing developers to identify weak spots and potential issues more efficiently. Dobelstein expressed optimism about the potential of this integration to streamline the development and testing process, ultimately saving valuable human-hours that would otherwise be spent on analysis.
The regulatory environment in which Availity operates, including FedRAMP and NIST SP 800-171 security controls, prohibits the use of most commercial AI services. However, Availity has been leveraging Amazon Q as a coding assistant and collaborating with AWS to ensure data security within their environment. The team is cautiously optimistic about the GitLab Duo integration with Amazon Q, which is currently being tested in a separate environment. Early tests have shown promising results, with Dobelstein highlighting the productivity gains and potential for enhanced collaboration that the integration offers.
The combination of Amazon Q’s knowledge of the application and cloud infrastructure environment with GitLab Duo’s insights into the DevSecOps landscape holds the promise of significant improvements in the development process. By automating tasks such as threat modeling and code evaluation for security vulnerabilities, the integration could help Availity’s release team stay ahead of the evolving environment. Dobelstein envisions a future where AI agents facilitate better collaboration between developers and business stakeholders, bridging the communication gap and creating a common understanding of requirements and app design in natural language.
Looking ahead, Availity’s build and release engineering team sees AI as a key enabler of faster and more reliable releases, allowing them to focus on strategic projects such as chaos engineering. The integration of GitLab Duo with Amazon Q opens up new possibilities for streamlining the development process and enhancing the overall efficiency of the team. As Availity continues its journey towards modernization, the adoption of AI technologies promises to play a pivotal role in driving innovation and improving the quality of its services.