Client Overview

Our client, a prominent UK based investment company, delivers tailored financial (investment and savings) solutions to over five million retail and institutional clients.

The Challenge

The client has selected Microsoft Azure as their primary cloud platform, and preferred hosting target for business services and workloads moving forwards.

The client is actively pursuing a “container centric” strategy aimed at replacing virtual machines and leverage their investment (and skills) in Red Hat OpenShift (on premise), extending this solution to Azure ensuring the seamless migration of container-based applications to the cloud environment.

The Solution

BlakYaks were initially engaged for our extensive expertise in diverse container technologies. Following rigorous requirements gathering sessions and strategic consultations, the BlakYaks team undertook the task of designing, coding, and constructing an Azure-based container platform based on the Azure Red Hat OpenShift (ARO) service.

This endeavour culminated in the successful delivery of a comprehensive enterprise container solution, coupled with an Azure-based DevSecOps framework. The entire solution was engineered using Infrastructure as Code (IaC), seamlessly integrated into Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CICD) pipelines. Additionally, the team seamlessly integrated third-party cloud native tools such as Kyverno, Kubecost, and Prisma Cloud. These tools effectively managed the container platform's security and compliance posture, adhering to our CIS benchmarked design, while also providing detailed cost reporting.

During subsequent project phases, a BlakYaks DevOps squad were engaged to augment internal resources and support the client’s cloud first / container first strategy - migrating substantial on-premises code repositories into Azure DevOps and offering additional capacity for various Azure cloud native and automation initiatives.

Outcomes

Collaborating with BlakYaks delivered significant benefits, including access to a squad of Azure experts to lead the client’s complex design, coding, and build projects.

The availability of skilled and certified professionals empowered the customer to expand their capabilities, replace outdated and unsupported technologies and navigate diverse challenges in seamless collaboration with their internal teams, fostering a unified approach to delivering outcomes.