We were delighted to welcome so many of you to ChefConf 2016 this year, particularly the newest members of our community: the Habitat users. We saw incredible interest in Habitat at ChefConf such that we had to repeat all the sessions the next day, due to overflow crowds.

What is Chef Automate? Chef Automate is our new approach to scaling up the use of automation across your organization. It builds on our open-source projects: Chef for infrastructure and cloud automation, InSpec for compliance automation, and the newly released Habitat for application automation.

I’d like to announce that Cask Data is now part of the Chef Partner Cookbook Program. They have certified the Cask Data Application Platform Cookbook. Cask Data is a startup in Palo Alto, California focused on enabling developers access to the powerful technology of big data without the steep learning curve.

The Chef Community  came alive at ChefConf in Austin last week with more than 1,500 passionate DevOps leaders, practitioners, and innovators meeting to talk infrastructure, applications, automation and driving business value through IT. Our CEO Barry Crist took the stage to talk about what it means to ship ideas in today’s modern workplace.

I’d like to announce that Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is now part of the Chef Partner Cookbook Program. They have certified the OneView and the iLO cookbooks which provide interfaces via Chef to two flagship HPE products. The OneView cookbook allows users to configure and manage HPE hardware using OneView’s unified API.

Our friends from Target gave a presentation today at ChefConf, cracking a complicated challenge by using Chef: automating Microsoft SharePoint. “When I told people I was Cheffing SharePoint, the reactions I got were typically, ‘Oh… I’m sorry’,” said senior engineer Naomi Reeves.

New Commercial Offering Unifies How Modern Application Teams Collaborate to Automate Software Delivery at Speed and Scale AUSTIN, TX – July 12, 2016 – From ChefConf 2016, Chef, the leader in automation for DevOps, today announced Chef Automate, its new commercial offering that gives businesses unprecedented control and collaboration across the entire software delivery process.

New Certification Program Provides Developers, System Administrators, and IT Professionals with Automation Skills at the Core of DevOps AUSTIN, TX – July 12, 2016 – From ChefConf 2016, Chef, the leader in automation for DevOps, today announced the Chef Certification Program, providing IT practitioners with the tools and resources necessary to build modern automation expertise.

The official Mobile App for ChefConf 2016 is powered by GuideBook, one of the easiest to use apps we have experienced for events. You can easily download it here! Or, go to the Apple Store or Play Store and search for “ChefConf.