Cloud303 Drives AmCoBi’s Modernization While Cutting Costs

DevOps

  • 3 October 2023
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AWS Funding Secured by Cloud303
  • Well-Architected

About the Customer

AmCoBi is a software company that runs several platforms to ease the difficulties involved with delivering and billing for home utilities such as water, electricity, and gas. It has a billing platform for multifamily property owners (AmCoBi) and a software that collects and analyzes data from meter readings to utility systems (Utility Hawk/Aquahawk). Its software makes recommendations to customers on how to improve the overall function of its systems.

Executive Summary

AmCoBi is a software company that provides services to utility companies and multifamily property owners and managers. Its products cater to a range of utility-related services - from billing (AmCoBi) to collecting and analyzing data from water systems (Aquahawk) and electrical or gas systems (Utility Hawk) for municipalities and utility businesses. Its utility customers are then able to use the analyzed data to make recommendations on how to maximize the performance of their clients’ systems.

Before working with Cloud303, AmCoBi’s platform was running on Rackspace - which proved to be outdated and too expensive. Cloud303 migrated AmCoBi to AWS, which in return, enhanced its security, and modernized its infrastructure while decreasing the cost of maintaining its services.

The Challenge

When AmCoBi approached Cloud303, its platform was running in Rackspace on outdated hardware and software. The company was having difficulty modernizing its infrastructure using the tools that Rackspace provided. Additionally, Rackspace’s cost of services and maintenance was quickly becoming repulsively high.

AmCoBi’s new chief technology officer had just recently inherited the platform from his predecessor and he was having trouble sorting through the infrastructure, leaving him in the lurch. AmCobi was certain that it wanted the plugs pulled on its lackluster legacy infrastructure - as too much money was being spent on a system that was failing to meet its security and business needs.

Why Cloud303?

  • Automation Expertise Cloud303 excels in automating tedious and complex tasks, making development and operations more efficient. Our expertise in CI/CD pipelines, Infrastructure as Code, containerization and automated testing ensures a faster time-to-market and more robust DevOps strategy.
  • Scalability and Performance With a deep understanding of microservices, containerization, and orchestration, Cloud303 provides scalable solutions that can handle varying workloads without sacrificing performance, ensuring that your systems can handle future demands.
  • Collaboration and Culture Recognizing that DevOps is as much about people and culture as it is about tools and processes, Cloud303 helps foster a culture of collaboration between development and operations teams to facilitate better teamwork and collective ownership of projects.
  • Proven Track Record Cloud303 has a strong history of successful partnerships within the Microsoft industry. Our commitment to excellence, reliability, and client-focused solutions have made us a trusted partner.

Engagement Overview

Cloud303's engagements follow a streamlined five-phase lifecycle: Requirements, Design, Implementation, Testing, and Maintenance. Initially, a comprehensive assessment is conducted through a Well-Architected Review to identify client needs. This is followed by a scoping call to fine-tune the architectural design, upon which a Statement of Work (SoW) is agreed and signed.

The implementation phase kicks in next, closely adhering to the approved designs. Rigorous testing ensures that all components meet the client's specifications and industry standards. Finally, clients have the option to either manage the deployed solutions themselves or to enroll in Cloud303's Managed Services for ongoing maintenance, an option many choose due to their high satisfaction with the services provided.

The Solution

Cloud303 - an AWS Premier Consulting Partner - worked with AmCoBi to comb through the company’s existing infrastructure and help organize and simplify the workload. Cloud303 went through the Well-Architected Review process with AmCoBi in order to enhance its security, increase efficiency, and make them potentially more appealing to clients.

Cloud303 migrated AmCoBi to AWS from Rackspace, updating their platform to more modern technologies and improving the ease of management. At the time, Network Load Balancers had not yet been released, so custom servers were deployed and configured for this purpose. Cloud303 also provided a roadmap for AmCoBi, suggesting future project ideas for continuous improvement over time.

Engineer Quote

Our work with AmCoBi was multi-faceted, involving deep analysis, modernization, and even custom solutions where necessary. The successful migration from Rackspace to AWS encapsulates Cloud303's commitment to providing scalable, secure, and cost-effective solutions.

Outcomes

As a result of the migration to AWS, AmCoBi was able to significantly lower its cloud computing costs. Additionally, thanks to Cloud303’s efforts, AmCoBi’s platform became more secure and easier to maintain, despite its complexity and its small engineering team. Moreover, the success from the initial migration has allowed Cloud303 and AmCoBi’s relationship to blossom into continued services including Cloud303’s resale organization and additional consulting projects, including the deployment of a custom network.

AmCoBi’s platform became more secure and easier to maintain, despite its complexity and its small engineering team.