Infrastructure as Code: Advanced Data Management and Scalability with the Cloud

IaaC

Microsoft azure

The Customer, a prominent company in energy management and environmental control, boasting a global presence and plants worldwide, specialises in developing advanced solutions for heating, cooling, and humidification systems across various industrial sectors.

To effectively collect, integrate, analyse, and comprehensively manage a growing volume of intricate data from diverse systems and sources, enabling all stakeholders to access it in the simplest and most intuitive manner, the client opted for a new, reliable, scalable, and secure cloud solution based on Azure.

In collaboration with the customer, the SCAI Group implemented a robust and flexible platform using data governance to support business strategies and decisions. The analysis of heterogeneous data represents a significant advancement in optimising decision-making processes, aided by efficient cloud resource management through an Infrastructure as Code (IaC) approach and swift, reliable system deployment processes at the customer’s premises.

The SCAI Group’s Cloud Competence Centre oversaw all design phases to satisfy the customer’s transformation needs.

Beginning with requirement analysis, including the customer’s security and network considerations, the most suitable technological options and cloud services were identified, leading to the selection of the most effective solution. The cloud architecture was then meticulously designed, outlining system components, security and scalability guidelines, and data ingestion workflows. The implementation of the IaC-based solution involved configuring data ingestion workflows, creating potential data transformation rules, and configuring security and integration with other systems. After thorough testing and quality control, including the verification of system functionality and input data quality, the system—comprising network, primary site VPN, and Disaster Recovery—was promptly deployed to the customer, with cloud resources configured for site replication using the Infrastructure as Code methodology. Continuous maintenance and monitoring were subsequently conducted to ensure ongoing customer support and long-term stability and efficiency.

The implemented solution offers numerous strengths, starting with enhanced scalability and reliability. Thanks to the cloud infrastructure and IaC-based approach, the infrastructure can be scaled flexibly, while its robust architecture ensures high system reliability.

The platform excels at integrating data from diverse systems and sources. Leveraging Azure Data Factory and Azure Data Sync enables efficient and precise information synchronisation, ensuring consistency and completeness. Security is maintained through implemented encryption options for data in transit and, upon request, at rest.

The IaC-based approach and tools like Azure DevOps empower the customer to manage cloud resources more efficiently. The configured cloud provider dashboard facilitates constant system monitoring, eliminating the need to manage and maintain an expensive on-premise infrastructure. Automation through CI/CD processes leads to a clear improvement in operational efficiency for the customer.