Leading Australian technology company GlobalX has successfully transitioned to Google Cloud, the result of a deliberative strategic process that began in 2013 and ended with a 32-hour sprint.
The migration from external data centres was the final step in a complex journey that began more than six years ago with the hiring of GlobalX’s Chief Information Officer, David Hobley.
Regulatory and market pressures are forcing companies to review and adapt their IT infrastructure at an ever-increasing pace, but many organisations are too reactive in their approach. GlobalX shows that formulating a long-term, strategic approach to upgrading technology is essential to preparing for the future.
GlobalX Chief Information Officer David Hobley said the process involved micro-level problem-solving to achieve a macro goal of a seamless transition that benefited both staff and customers.
“When we created our cloud strategy it became clear that a simple lift and shift would be unreasonably expensive, high-risk and not allow our team to move through the develop-test-release cycle at an efficient rate,” Mr Hobley said.
“The first step we took was moving our code from Windows/.Net Standard to Linux/.Net Core and architecting those solutions for Kubernetes. This reduced the cost of licencing and cloud infrastructure, while vastly optimising our deployment pipelines.
“Given Google created Kubernetes, the decision to move to Google was the natural first choice for GlobalX and by leveraging Google’s PaaS solutions such as Kubernetes, Cloud SQL, Stackdriver, Storage Buckets, and SDN solutions, the development team very quickly grasped the benefits of automation including automated deployments of complete environments.
“This allowed us to remove the stress and complexity from our environment migration and allowed us to reliably migrate over 20 years of technical solutions into the Cloud with a minimum of fuss over the weekend. Being able to stand up an environment at the press of a button is truly transformative for the business.
Google Cloud’s Country Director for Australia and New Zealand Colin Timm said, “GlobalX’s seamless move to Google Cloud speaks to the power of openness which enables faster innovation and tighter security that benefits not only their organization but their customers as well.”
GlobalX CEO Peter Maloney said the organisation’s approach to its IT infrastructure stemmed from a desire to anticipate and proactively address the needs of the organisation, its clients and the broader industry.
“Our aim in hiring David was to find someone with a forward-thinking nature and the expertise to modernise our technology stack to provide a better customer experience and build a more sustainable business,” Mr Maloney said.
“David and his Development team have been working since 2013 to determine the best platform for this, and then migrate all of our customer-facing and internal technology into the Google Cloud.
“I’ve personally watched teams from our Brisbane and Melbourne offices collaborate across state lines and solve problems as they arose to ensure that we’d reach this goal.
“It’s been incredible to see how David has led his team with passion, enthusiasm and talent to support them as they executed the faultless transition to Google Cloud.”
Chief Information Officer David Hobley said the transition would result in numerous benefits for GlobalX.
“GlobalX has now become more scalable, enabled greater flexible working practices and improved data security.
“Thanks to this best-in-class technology, we also have a stronger business continuity plan and disaster recovery options for a worst-case scenario.
“I am very proud to be working for an organisation that has invested so much in ensuring that we are prepared for the future and can continue leading the industry.
“Without months and years of planning, this transition simply would not have been possible.”
To find out more about GlobalX, visit: https://globalx.com.au/