Comment (5)Virtualization startup Avril Systems has taken virtualization to the next level -- the executive level -- according to the company's founder and self-styled administrator, Jacques Delad.
Paris-based Avril is developing networking software for white box systems that can run in data centers and in wide area networks as part of network operators' virtualization rollouts. Delad decided that he should "eat his own dog food" (not something that happens often in Paris) by virtualizing his management team to show he was serious about developing automated, low-cost capabilities.
"I had written the code extensions for the company's OpenStack-based OS proposition and I thought, why not develop some open source code that would make decisions about what the company should do next, based on existing parameters and set policies?" he tells Light Reading.
"Once I had done that I thought that, at least for now, my management team could be virtual. So I am the human founder, I call myself the administrator instead of CEO and the rest of the team is code on a server. My colleagues are a boîte blanche [white box]," he jokes.
So does the virtual team have names and job titles? Even personalities? And how many of them are there? "I thought about doing that, then I realized that would be ridiculous and would look a bit crazy. But if I start to get lonely at work I might consider it. At most I will have six virtual colleagues, otherwise the white box will get a bit crowded," adds Delad.
"The main thing for me is that I know that as long as the server has power, the team is working to my DevOps rules and they won't go on strike. We might get a virus that could knock out my team, but my security is tight."
To find out more about what Delad and his virtual team are developing, check out his corporate website.
— Ray Le Maistre, 
, Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading
