Inside China Telecom’s DevOps Platform: Winning Top‑Tier Standard Evaluation

Event Overview

On September 25, 2020, the 14th GOPS Global Operations Conference was held in Shenzhen, jointly organized by the Open Source Cloud Computing Alliance (OSCAR), GreatOPS, and OOPSA. The conference announced the first batch of evaluation results for the DevOps Standard System and Tool sections.

The China Telecom Group System Integration Co., Ltd. (referred to as China Telecom System Integration) successfully passed the inaugural assessment of the "Research and Development Operations Integration (DevOps) Capability Maturity Model" conducted by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT). Its "BiYi" collaborative development platform received an "Excellent" rating for both the Build & Continuous Integration module and the Pipeline module, indicating a leading domestic level for its DevOps system and tools.

Interview with Wang Yanjun

Q: Please introduce yourself, your company, and the project evaluated.

Wang: China Telecom System Integration is a wholly‑owned subsidiary of China Telecom, providing integrated ICT services such as cloud computing, big data, security, network construction, and mobile Internet applications for government, enterprise, and financial customers.

The "BiYi" collaborative development platform, led by the DICT Application Capability Center, consolidates years of R&D experience across the system integration group. It is an industry‑leading platform that integrates project management, automated continuous integration, and test request management, forming a closed‑loop covering the entire product lifecycle from requirement to release.

Q: How do you feel about passing the DevOps standard assessment?

Wang: We are delighted that the "BiYi" platform became the first system and tool from China Telecom to be evaluated, achieving a strong start. The assessment has enhanced our continuous integration and pipeline capabilities, promoted DevOps practices within the team, and provided a reference platform for other applications.

Q: Why is an end‑to‑end, integrated toolchain important for DevOps adoption?

Wang: A seamless, integrated toolchain simplifies the DevOps implementation process, improves development efficiency, accelerates delivery, and facilitates better collaboration among team members.

Q: What were your considerations for participating in the assessment, and do you have plans for technology output?

Wang: China Telecom is undergoing a 3.0 transformation focusing on network intelligence, ecosystem integration, and intelligent operations. To meet these goals, we need DevOps to speed up software delivery and improve quality. The assessment helped us benchmark our platform, identify gaps, and guide future development. The project has also applied for software copyrights and patents.

Q: What changes has the assessment brought to your enterprise and team?

Wang: The DevOps standard provides systematic guidance for implementing best practices, helping enterprises understand their maturity level, identify gaps, and drive continuous improvement. It also validates our platform’s capabilities and points us toward higher‑level maturity targets.

Q: What concrete improvements have you observed after the assessment?

Wang: The "BiYi" platform released a public beta in January 2019 and version 1.0 in September, offering 103 mature components, supporting over 1,000 self‑developed projects, executing more than 10,000 builds, hosting over 2,000 containers, and maintaining stable operation for over 580 days.

Q: What are the distinctive features of the evaluated project?

Wang: The platform is built on a micro‑service architecture and integrates common DevOps tools such as Jenkins, Nexus, Harbor, and SonarQube with deep customizations, including visual pipeline editing and full‑process monitoring, delivering a cloud‑native, one‑stop solution for the entire software lifecycle.

Q: What challenges did you face during the assessment and how were they solved?

Wang: We encountered missing advanced features and extensive modifications while ensuring existing functionalities remained stable. By prioritizing DevOps promotion, leveraging industry best practices, and continuous team effort, we successfully passed the maturity assessment.

Q: What are your next steps for DevOps work?

Wang: We plan to empower teams by promoting successful pilot projects as demos, sharing lessons learned, and extending DevOps practices to other projects. Additionally, we will design new systems according to DevOps standards and continuously optimize existing systems.

Q: How do you see the future development of DevOps?

Wang: After more than a decade, DevOps has become a core focus in software engineering, enabling rapid, reliable delivery of new features. In the future, DevOps will further support cloud computing, IoT, big data, and video services, aligning with China Telecom’s "cloud‑driven digital transformation" strategy.

DevOps Standard Overview

The "Research and Development Operations Integration (DevOps) Capability Maturity Model" series of standards is led by CAICT, with contributions from OSCAR, GreatOPS, BATJ, and major telecom and financial enterprises. It is the first domestic and international DevOps standard, officially concluded by the ITU‑T in July 2020.

The assessment framework covers agile management, continuous delivery, technical operations, application design, security and risk management, as well as system and tool evaluation.