Source: devclass.com (original reporting, September 2018)
Overview
CloudBees announced a set of additions to its software delivery suite aimed at lowering the barrier to entry for DevOps adoption and extending its platform into cloud-native environments. The updates include a Kubernetes-focused Continuous Delivery (CD) offering, a free monitoring tier for DevOptics, a bundled Starter Kit, and commercial support for the open-source Jenkins automation server.
The CloudBees Product Suite at a Glance
CloudBees positions its product portfolio as an end-to-end software delivery system for modern development teams. At the time of this announcement, the suite comprised:
- CloudBees Core – An enterprise-grade automation engine for CI/CD, built on Jenkins.
- CloudBees DevOptics – A metrics and visibility layer for tracking delivery pipelines across teams and tools.
- CodeShip – A fully-managed, hosted CI/CD service designed to help teams get started quickly.
- Jenkins open-source support – Newly added commercial support and services for the upstream Jenkins project.
Kubernetes CD with Jenkins X
The most significant addition for cloud-native teams is the introduction of a Kubernetes CD subscription, available to CloudBees Core customers. This offering is built on Jenkins X, a CI/CD solution designed specifically for Kubernetes-based application delivery.
Jenkins X automates the creation of CI/CD pipelines, manages environment promotion (e.g., staging to production), and integrates with Kubernetes-native tooling such as Helm and Draft. By packaging Jenkins X within the CloudBees subscription model, CloudBees aims to give enterprise teams a supported, opinionated path to implementing CD on Kubernetes without needing to assemble the toolchain themselves.
At launch, Kube CD subscriptions were offered to a limited number of CloudBees Core customers, suggesting an early-access or beta rollout rather than general availability.
Free DevOptics Plan for Pipeline Visibility
CloudBees also introduced a free tier for DevOptics, its operational metrics and observability product. The free plan provides basic operational insight across heterogeneous environments — specifically, deployments that mix CloudBees Core instances with standalone Jenkins masters.
For teams already running Jenkins at scale, this is a low-cost way to gain cross-team pipeline visibility without committing to a paid DevOptics subscription. The free tier is particularly useful for organisations evaluating whether centralised delivery metrics justify a full DevOptics investment.
Starter Kit for New CloudBees Customers
To reduce time-to-value for new adopters, CloudBees introduced a Starter Kit that bundles together:
- CloudBees Core – The CI/CD automation engine.
- CloudBees DevOptics – Pipeline metrics and visibility.
- CloudBees Professional Services – Guided onboarding and implementation support.
The intent is to give organisations a pre-packaged path to operational CI/CD, reducing the internal effort required to evaluate, configure, and deploy the platform from scratch.
Commercial Support and Services for Jenkins
CloudBees announced formal commercial support for the open-source Jenkins automation server — an important move given that Jenkins underpins much of the CloudBees product line. The support program includes:
- Technical support and maintenance for Jenkins installations.
- Self-paced online training for Jenkins users and administrators.
- Automated diagnostics services to surface common configuration or performance issues.
- Developer support for implementing Jenkins Pipeline best practices and optimising pipeline performance.
- Upgrade assistance to help teams move to newer Jenkins versions safely.
- Access to the Continuous Delivery Acceleration program, a structured initiative designed to help organisations introduce and mature their CD practices.
This offering targets organisations running Jenkins in production who need more than community-level support — particularly those subject to SLAs, compliance requirements, or operating Jenkins at significant scale.
What This Means for DevOps Teams
Taken together, these announcements reflect a broader CloudBees strategy: meet teams where they are (whether on Jenkins, CodeShip, or Kubernetes), provide a clear upgrade path into the fuller CloudBees ecosystem, and reduce friction through bundled services and free entry-level tiers.
For teams evaluating enterprise CI/CD platforms in 2018, the key takeaways were:
- Kubernetes-native CD is now a first-class concern for CloudBees, via Jenkins X.
- The free DevOptics tier removes cost as a barrier to pipeline observability.
- Commercial Jenkins support gives large Jenkins shops an enterprise support option backed by the company most closely associated with the project.
This article is based on a September 2018 report from devclass.com. Product names, availability, and pricing may have changed since publication.