SEATTLE, March 17, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Refactr, a DevSecOps automation startup, creators of the radically simple DevSecOps automation platform announced that it has been awarded an United States Air Force AFWERX Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) 20.1 Phase 1 contract to examine using the Refactr Platform to automate the AFWERX L evel Up Code Works DevSecOps initiative, Platform One. The Air Force SBIR 20.1 was the first joint program with the Navy and Army, to provide competitive awards enabling innovative small businesses to explore their technology potential within the Department of Defense.

Refactr will be evaluated by AFWERX Level Up to help reduce tool and content sprawl while also enabling all warfighters of each tech team to take part in the DevSecOps process. The platform will be reviewed to see if it will save immense amounts of labor-hours otherwise spent creating and executing overly complex process documents and manual effort, which are highly error prone and expensive to manage. Most DevOps and security automation content today is spread out, not uniform, and has no centralized management platform. This prevents distinct tech teams from collaborating and creating silos, often forcing them to “reinvent the wheel” opening themselves up to misconfiguration and security vulnerabilities that are already solved. As a layer on top of existing automation technologies, the Refactr Platform is perfectly positioned to be evaluated on supporting existing automation content for Level Up’s Platform One DevSecOps initiative to be built upon, maintained, and executed with the highest possible cohesion.

Through a competitive awards-based program, the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program enables small businesses to explore their technological potential and provides the incentive to profit from its commercialization. AFWERX, in partnership with Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) have partnered to streamline the Small Business Innovation Research process in an attempt to speed up the experience, broaden the pool of potential applicants and decrease bureaucratic overhead. Beginning in SBIR 18.2, and now in 20.1, the Air Force has begun offering ‘Special’ SBIR topics that are faster, leaner and open to a broader range of innovations. Refactr contracted with Long Capture for the SBIR process and with the SBIR phase 1 award was selected to a Defense Accelerator by Capital Factory and Long Capture, sponsored by Microsoft, AWS, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and other organizations. “We are excited that Refactr was selected by our sponsor Microsoft for our inaugural Defense Accelerator with our partner Capital Factory. The goal of this accelerator is to get Refactr and other companies in the cohort to a Phase II to adapt their product to be dual use, get outside venture funding and push for broader dual use adoption in the Department of Defense and enterprise,” Sam Riehn, Head of Business Development, Long Capture.

“We are thrilled to have won this SBIR Phase 1 grant and excited to have interest in our DevSecOps automation platform. On the same day we were awarded the grant we were notified we were selected for a Defense Accelerator by Capital Factory and Long Capture. I am an Air Force veteran, and excited to be back working with the Air Force with our DevSecOps platform focused primarily on the security challenges faced by engineers. We have seen the benefits of our DevSecOps platform on the commercial side, and now are enthusiastic to get the chance to help contribute to the Air Force’s DevSecOps initiative,” Michael Fraser, Co-Founder & CEO, Refactr.

For more information on the SBIR program, visit AFWERX SIBR Program.

About Refactr

Refactr, a Seattle-based startup, was founded in 2017 by veteran and industry experts in cloud and cybersecurity. Refactr’s mission is to accelerate the cultural shift toward modern DevOps workflows among tech teams by providing an all-in-one, highly usable, radically simple DevSecOps automation platform. Refactr takes a high-level pluggable approach to connecting DevSecOps tools together so that experts can build IT as Code solutions while collaborating with the spectrum of existing technical talent in their organization. Technology changes, people adapt, and at Refactr, we innovate to make the world more agile through the next shift of digital transformation into IT as Code.

To find out more about Refactr™, visit refactr.it or to get in touch with Refactr™ directly, by calling (866) 493-9367 or follow us on Twitter @refactrIT

SOURCE Refactr, Inc.