Our client is a major fast-food restaurant franchise based in the United States. Headquartered in Kentucky, they operate in 5,500 locations across 49 countries.
The Challenge
High operational and hosting costs hindering competitiveness
Simply, our client needed a digital transformation to lower costs and remain competitive in the fast-paced restaurant delivery sector.
The Objective
A necessary overhaul of IT infrastructure
To reduce their high operational and hosting costs, our client sought to digitally transform an expansive and unwieldy IT landscape that included two US-based data centers. It would require a complex migration from AIX to OEL in Google Cloud Virtual Environment (GCVE), including Oracle, MSSQL and Postgress DBs, so they recognized the need for a technology partner.
The Solution
An end-to-end Google Cloud Platform (GCP) solution
HCLTech provided an complete GCP implementation that featured a comprehensive assessment, foundation building and end-to-end migration services. We utilized a variety of tools — including VMware RVtools, vROPs Reports, SolarWinds Reports and DNS Dump — during the discovery and planning phase to ensure a detailed assessment.
During the design, build and migration phase, HCLTech implemented Google Cloud Native Services along with a robust network security infrastructure. Data protection was guaranteed through strategies like Org Policies, BigFix, Crowd Strike and hardening. Migration efficiency was heightened with tools like M4C (Velostrata), Rsync/Robocopy and Cloud Sync.
A key aspect of the solution involved constructing a cost-effective GCP Landing Zone, capable of supporting workloads from multiple data centers and regions and providing an isolated environment for DR Bubble Tests.
The Impact
Competitiveness restored with robust new IT infrastructure
- Creation of a multi-region Cloud Landing Zone build (US East 4, US West 2) with integrated network security features
- Integration of 40+ perimeter firewalls, Rapid 7, Platform security and SIEM
- Accelerated DR Bubble Test on GCVE due to the readiness of an isolated environment
- Successful deployment of infrastructure-as-a-code (IaaC) methodology for deployment and migration
- Facilitated the setup of migration tools to support the migration of 1,500 servers within a 4-month timeline
- Leveraged client's existing VMware Stack investments, rendering the transformation cost-effective and significantly enhancing operational efficiency
