Infrastructure automation remains the gold standard by which any size organization should measure its ability to manage its IT infrastructure. Using tools such as HashiCorp’s Ansible, Packer, Prometheus, and Terraform, organizations can automate their infrastructure management.
Unfortunately, these infrastructure automation tools cannot account for all the subtle complexities that exist within organizational IT infrastructures. To work consistently, these tools require an underlying end-to-end IT infrastructure that changes infrequently and offers proven APIs. In the real world, this type of stability rarely exists.
Overcoming these challenges so organizations may achieve their infrastructure automation objectives requires taking an alternative approach. To do so, Verge.io offers its VergeOS infrastructure operating system (IOS) that now supports infrastructure automation software.
PowerPoints, Demos, and Reality
Everyone loves vendor PowerPoint presentations and demos, perhaps no one more so than the vendors presenting them. Their PowerPoints enumerate the technical challenges their technology solves and the demos (almost always) work without a hitch. An organization only then needs to sign the contract, issue the PO, and start experiencing the solution’s benefits. Or so the story goes.
In some scenarios, it may be that simple. Ginsu knives and Vitamix blenders come to mind and maybe using networked attached storage (NAS) systems in small IT environments.
However, can one discuss infrastructure automation tools and use the word “simple” to describe their use? One should remain highly skeptical that any infrastructure automation tool will be either simple to install or manage.
It turns out, time has proven the skeptics right. The complexities of deploying and then managing infrastructure automation tools probably exceed even what their respective providers expected.
I also do not mean to diminish the value of infrastructure automation tools such as Ansible, Packer, Prometheus, and Terraform. Organizations that successfully deploy and utilize them can and do experience significant cost and time savings.
However, organizations should not assume that any of these infrastructure automation tools come as plug-n-play solutions. The challenges of using infrastructure automation software surface almost immediately.
Organizations must first configure this software to work with the computing, networking, and storage layers in their IT infrastructure. That can take significant amounts of time depending on the IT infrastructure hardware and software that an organization uses. Even if using only a few providers, one must still account for the firmware and operating systems on each device.
Eventually, an organization may configure each tool to work with all the devices in their IT infrastructure. Then what happens?
The organization adds new hardware or software to its IT environment. Firmware gets updated or patched. New APIs are introduced on a device that one or more infrastructure automation tools may not support.
Suddenly, the infrastructure automation software can neither comprehensively manage nor monitor the entire IT environment. Adding insult to injury, the possibility exists that no one knows about the unsupported device until an inopportune moment arises.
Solving the Infrastructure Challenge
One can blame the infrastructure automation tools for not discovering every device and adapting to changes in the IT environment as they occur. That would be unreasonable, though they admittedly bear some responsibility.
After all, they likely implied at some point they can successfully automate IT infrastructure management with few or no hassles. They may also eventually turn to some form of AI-powered programming to help them solve this challenge. However, that day is not today.
In the meantime, organizations that want to achieve infrastructure automation should look to simplify their IT infrastructure. Many may find the easiest way to accomplish this feat entails flattening their IT infrastructure using an IOS.
An IOS delivers the computing, networking, and storage services that organizations need in a single software package. This architectural approach eliminates two challenges.
- It eliminates the need to deploy layers of servers, switches, and storage.
- It eliminates the need to consistently ensure the infrastructure automation tools work with the devices in the IT environment.
Now the infrastructure automation tools only must communicate and work with one IOS provider rather than multiple providers. However, for this approach to work, the IOS solution must also support and work with these various infrastructure automation solutions.
Infrastructure Automation: Comparing Traditional Stacks to an IOS-Based Approach
| Theme | Key Concept(s) | Role of Infrastructure Automation Tools | Role of IOS/VergeOS | Business Outcomes |
| Infrastructure Automation Today | Benchmark for managing IT at any scale but depends on stable, API-rich infrastructure. | Tools such as Ansible, Prometheus, and Terraform automate configuration, monitoring, and provisioning when the environment remains stable. | VergeOS introduces an IOS that supports and works with these automation tools. | Organizations gain a path to automation even in complex, changing environments. |
| Limits | Real-world infrastructures change frequently, have diverse firmware & OS versions, & expose inconsistent APIs. | Tools require extensive integration work across compute, network, & storage, & lose coverage when hardware, firmware, or APIs change. | VergeOS seeks to remove device-by-device integration by presenting a single IOS layer to the tools. | Reduced integration effort and fewer blind spots in monitoring and management. |
| Demos vs Reality | Vendor demos appear simple, but production deployments reveal significant complexity. | Infrastructure automation tools deliver value but are not plug-and-play solutions in heterogeneous environments. | VergeOS acknowledges these practical challenges and positions the IOS as a way to tame environmental complexity. | Organizations set more realistic expectations and architect for sustainable automation. |
| Integration Overhead in Traditional Stacks | Traditional environments include multiple vendors and device types across servers, switches, and storage arrays. | Teams must configure each tool for each device, account for firmware and OS versions, and revisit integrations after every change. | VergeOS aims to centralize compute, network, and storage services into a single software-defined IOS layer. | Less ongoing integration work and faster time to value from automation investments. |
| Breakage from Infrastructure Change | New hardware, patches, firmware updates, and new APIs often break existing automation coverage and observability. | Tools may fail to manage or monitor new or changed devices, sometimes without anyone noticing until an incident occurs. | VergeOS abstracts services from hardware so that hardware changes do not require changes to automation code. | Improved reliability of automation and reduced operational risk from unnoticed gaps. |
| Flatten Infrastructure | Achieving automation requires simplification of the underlying infrastructure architecture. | Tools continue to operate but struggle less when the underlying platform presents a consistent, unified interface. | VergeOS flattens the stack into an IOS that provides compute, networking, and storage from one software package. | Organizations move from fragmented, multi-layer stacks to a single, IOS-based foundation for automation. |
| VergeOS Automation Support (2026 & beyond) | Modern automation strategies center on Infrastructure-as-Code and pipeline-driven operations. | Ansible enforces configuration and policy; Packer builds images; Prometheus monitors; Terraform provisions VDCs, networks, and VMs. | VergeOS integrates with Ansible, Packer, Prometheus, and Terraform to support automated lifecycle management. | Organizations adopt a predictable, repeatable automation chain from image build through operations. |
| VergeOS Automation Chain | Success requires end-to-end automation of image creation, provisioning, configuration, and monitoring. | The toolchain covers policy enforcement, image standardization, observability, and provisioning workflows. | VergeOS provides the IOS context in which this toolchain operates as a single, integrated automation surface. | Improved consistency, standardization, and control across the full infrastructure lifecycle. |
| 3-Layer Virtualization to IOS | Traditional virtualization splits compute, storage, and network into separate systems, each with its own behavior. | Automation must cope with three independent layers, each with its own APIs, update cycles, and management interfaces. | VergeOS replaces the three-layer model with an IOS that abstracts services from the hardware. | Automation becomes simpler and more durable because hardware specifics become largely irrelevant. |
| Upgrade & Feature Propagation | Hardware-tied features require device-by-device upgrades and management changes. | Automation must adjust when devices introduce new capabilities or management patterns. | VergeOS upgrades at the IOS layer and immediately exposes new or improved services across existing hardware. | Organizations gain faster access to new capabilities without reworking automation for each device. |
| IOS/VergeOS Milestones | Organizations seek to manage IOS-based environments with the same tools used for existing infrastructure. | The same automation tools now manage both traditional stacks and IOS-based environments. | VergeOS support for these tools marks a significant milestone for IOS adoption and manageability. | Organizations simplify both infrastructure operations and the administration of the automation tools. |
Verge.io Introduces Support for Infrastructure Automation
Verge.io has for some time delivered its VergeO as an IOS that offers computing, networking, and storage. However, in its most recent release, Verge.io announced support for HashiCorp Packer and Ansible infrastructure automation software in Q1 2026. This builds on its existing support for Prometheus and Terraform.
Using VergeOS, organizations may look to automate the full lifecycle of their IT environments. This includes image creation, resource provisioning, configuration, and monitoring. This integration also extends VergeOS into modern Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) ecosystems and aligns it with automation pipelines already used by platform engineering and DevOps teams.
Now organizations may use the VergeOS automation chain in the following four ways:
- Ansible to enforce configuration and policies
- Packer to build standardized images
- Prometheus to monitor performance and health.
- Terraform to provision VDCs, networks, and VMs.
This chain provides organizations with a predictable, repeatable foundation for deploying and managing infrastructure. Further, using these infrastructure automation tools, they maintain control over every step, from image build to ongoing operations.
An Important Milestone in Infrastructure Automation for IOS
Traditional virtualization environments operate as three independent layers with hypervisors managing compute, external storage arrays handling data and network fabrics controlling connectivity. These components each bring their own management interface, firmware update cycle, and operational behavior, creating fragmented infrastructures and breaking automation.
Using an IOS such as VergeOS abstracts services from the hardware rather than depending on the hardware to provide them. Now the underlying hardware can change or differ without requiring changes to infrastructure automation code. In short, the underlying hardware becomes irrelevant to the infrastructure automation tools.
This abstraction also delivers another benefit. When VergeOS upgrades and offers new or improved services, all existing hardware gains those capabilities immediately. Organizations no longer need to wait until each hardware device gets upgraded or manage underlying hardware components differently.
Verge.io’s support for these infrastructure automation tools represents an important milestone for IOS offerings in general and VergeOS specifically. Organizations may now, for the first time, manage an IOS in the same way they manage their existing IT infrastructure. They also then receive the benefit of managing an IOS like VergeOS as it simplifies the administration of the infrastructure automation software itself.
KEEP UP-TO-DATE WITH DCIG
To be notified of new DCIG articles, reports, and webinars, sign up for DCIG’s free weekly Newsletter.
To learn about DCIG’s future research and publications, see the DCIG Editorial Calendar.
Technology providers interested in licensing DCIG TOP 5 reports or having DCIG produce custom reports on their behalf, please contact DCIG for more information.
Note: Verge.io is a client of DCIG.