An IT basis was to be created to meet growing digital requirements. In collaboration with the Baggenstos Consulting Team, it quickly became clear that the optimal solution would be in the cloud.

Before the project started, the following questions were clarified by a Proof of Concept:

1. Could the central applications, such as Dynamics AIX, the ELO process framework, etc. be migrated to the Azure Cloud and used and operated efficiently there?
2. Is the client performance sufficient for operation without local, central IT infrastructure (network, RDS, printing)?

In the test environment on Azure, all relevant applications were tested with real data under real business conditions. The release for the migration project could thus soon be given.

Because of the preparatory work done in the Proof of Concept phase, the complex VDI infrastructure could be migrated almost completely to the Azure Cloud in just three months. Only for some Linux servers with applications that were soon to be replaced was the migration not worthwhile.

The solution was based upon these components:

• An all-cloud approach with no central, local infrastructure
• An Azure Virtual Network
• Azure Backup with geo-redundancy
• RDS on Azure with local redundancy
• Migration of the local Dynamics AX systems to Azure IaaS
• Windows Server 2016 as the basic operating system

Using the all-cloud solution on Microsoft Azure, the following advantages could be extracted:

• By reducing the local server infrastructure to an absolute minimum, the reliability and availability of the services could be significantly increased
• Worldwide and location-independent access to the services
• The basis for further global scaling and expansion of services for further digital development

The local infrastructure, which had grown over many years, was presenting a challenge owing to its complexity and heterogeneous nature. Additionally, the new services had to be prepared for Azure during live operations, without risking interruptions to its users.

The rollout was performed at the company headquarters in Wollerau, as well as the globally distributed locations in Miami, Sao Paolo, Costa Rica, Canada and Hamburg, and was completed within only four days. At the same time, a staggered switchover of the telephone numbers per location also took place.

The infrastructure is being operated under our Operation Care Managed Service. Our operations team takes care of the daily functionalities and delivers rapid support in the event of a fault. Quality is guaranteed using industry-recognized best practices and clearly defined service levels (SLA). The permanently assigned Baggenstos Service Manager takes care of any escalations, ensures the ongoing optimization of support and operating processes, and also accompanies Commodity Supplies AG in the further development of its ICT infrastructure.