Financial Services Company Gains Faster Access and Enhanced Security for Applications
December 23, 2022
Automation efforts provide access to applications in a single click
The Client
Our client protects the integrity of financial markets by delivering world-class risk management, clearing and settlement services for options, futures, OTC and securities lending transactions. In its role as guarantor and central counterparty, our client ensures that the obligations of the contracts it clears are fulfilled. We have been working with them since 2017.
Challenge
We have been assisting with our client’s existing information server for more than three years. To ensure their organization’s continued success, they needed to set up the latest security systems and procedures. Implementing a new technology would require them to seek out and obtain approval from a security certification provider, which potentially could take a long time.
Sabahath Khan, Associate Software Architect for Prolifics, explains some additional challenges our client faced. “Right now, they have several broken applications in different environments and don’t have an effective way of managing them,” he said. “Consequently, patching or doing any kind of changes entails a lot of extra work. So, they wanted to move onto the cloud, automate all of their broken applications and then streamline their application deployments, installation processes, patching, and upgrade process all in one go.”
Since they had invested so much time and money into an in-house technology that was already built into their server, our client felt that modernizing the technology was the best route to take. Confident that we would be able to help them do so quickly and easily, they sought assistance from our modernization experts.
Action
After considering several options, we determined that the best way to meet our client’s needs was through a cloud native lift and shift. Greg Kordelski, Client Success Director for Prolifics, said, “You can bring it around to any part of their organization, plop it on any environment and simply hit a few buttons to deploy that whole environment. We’re not doing this anywhere else, so it’s definitely new and unique.”
Khan is currently migrating all of our client’s applications and data onto AWS. “They have a few different environments that we are moving on to the cloud, including the development, testing and production environment,” he said.
We are currently utilizing two forms of automation with our client, including Terraform and Ansible. While Terraform is responsible for provisioning and standing up our client’s servers in the cloud, Ansible deploys all of their existing applications. Now, instead of having all their applications in different environments, Khan said, “We are helping to arrange them in one area so our client can manage them in a more organized way.”
Results
By modernizing our client’s existing server, we are helping them maintain the security and processes programmed within it so they can easily migrate to the cloud. They are also able to process a significant amount of data and keep up with the progression of data governance as a result. Our modernization efforts have provided our client with features they didn’t have access to before, including increased capacity, backup, storage and a higher retention time. “Through automation, our client can bring up all of their applications with a simple click,” Khan said. “They simply have to go through and run the pipelines, which will then build the environment and immediately deploy whatever changes they want.”
Kordeslki explains that we have other opportunities underway with this client, including metadata and data quality projects, staffing and other proposals.
Khan is confident that more modernization work will follow. “This is only the first step in our modernization journey with them,” he said. “So I’m definitely expecting more work to come.”
Technology
Lift and shift:
Lift and shift is also known as rehosting. It is migrating an exact copy of an application, data or operating system from one environment to another, usually from on-prem to the cloud.
Terraform:
Terraform Cloud enables infrastructure automation for provisioning, compliance, and management of any cloud, datacenter, and service.
Ansible:
An open source, command-line IT automation software application written in Python. It can configure systems, deploy software, and orchestrate advanced workflows to support application deployment, system updates, and more.
About Prolifics
Prolifics is a global digital engineering and consulting firm helping clients navigate and accelerate their digital transformation journeys. We deliver relevant outcomes using our systematic approach to rapid, enterprise-grade continuous innovation. We treat our digital deliverables like a customized product – using agile practices to deliver immediate and ongoing increases in value.
We provide consulting, engineering and managed services for all our practice areas — Data & AI, Integration & Applications, Business Automation, DevXOps, Test Automation, and Cybersecurity across multiple industries — at any point our clients need them. Visit prolifics.com to learn more.