BluEarth Renewables is a leading, independent, power producer headquartered in Calgary that acquires, develops, builds, owns and operates wind, hydro and solar facilities across North America.
CHALLENGES
One of the challenges that BluEarth Renewables faced was their complex and redundant data centre setup, which involved a lot of replications between their Montreal and Calgary Data centres. They wanted to streamline their infrastructure as well as leverage the benefits of cloud computing, such as scalability, security, and cost-efficiency. To achieve this goal, they evaluated two major cloud providers, as they wanted to have a provider with a large footprint throughout North America. After further consideration, they opted for Azure and partnered with Softlanding to migrate to the cloud, impressed by Softlanding’s response and strong relationship with Microsoft as a Solutions Partner.
SOLUTION
The first step of the project was to design and plan the new Azure Landing Zone following the Cloud Adoption Framework and plan the cloud migration roadmap. This would ensure a consistent and organized structure for BluEarth Renewables to migrate and manage their cloud environment. Softlanding assisted with the design and configuration of the Azure network with 3rd party firewalls, which included creating subnets for different security zones. This would enable BluEarth Renewables to isolate and protect their workloads from unauthorized access and potential threats.
BluEarth Renewables faced some challenges during their cloud migration process. Early on during the deployment phase it was determined that the method used to deploy their existing servers, caused issues which prevented a lift and shift migration, along with some unknown 3rd party firewall requirements, which were all promptly discussed and resolved with the assistance of the Softlanding team. As a result, BluEarth Renewables successfully migrated to the cloud with less difficulty and delay.
BENEFITS
- Simplified IT Management
Before moving to Microsoft Azure, BluEarth Renewables relied on three third-party providers to manage and maintain their data centre, which meant that they had to submit tickets and wait for someone to change or fix things in the data centre. This process was not efficient and by moving to the Azure, BluEarth Renewables was able to streamline the management and maintenance of their data in the cloud.
- Cost-Effectiveness
BluEarth Renewables had two data centres in Canada, one in Calgary and another one in Montreal, where it stored and processed its data. However, this setup required constant replication of data between the two locations, which increased the costs. By moving to Azure and removing these two data centres, along with Azure Hybrid Benefits and Reserved Instances, BluEarth Renewables was able to reduce its costs by over 25% compared to what it was paying for the data centres.
- Enhanced Security
BluEarth Renewables followed Microsoft and Softlanding’s best practices of network design and created multiple subnets for different platforms with 3rd party firewalls. This enhanced their security and prevented potential attacks from spreading across the entire environment.
- Better Scalability
Moving to Azure enabled BluEarth Renewables to increase their scalability which was not possible with their data centres as the resources were capped. With Azure, they can scale up or down their computing resources as needed.
“Embarking on the journey to establish a new Azure environment was a significant endeavor for BluEarth. We knew the importance of adhering to best practice whilst maintaining the highest standards of security. It was imperative for us to partner with a team that not only possessed the technical expertise but also shared our vision and values. Softlanding exceeded our expectations in every aspect of the project. Their team crafted a solution that not only met but surpassed our requirements. Their deep understanding of Azure architecture and their commitment to following best practice ensured the seamless integration of our environment into Azure. Beyond their technical prowess, it was the collaborative spirit and genuine care demonstrated by Chris and his team that truly resonated with us. They took time to understand our unique challenges, offering personalized guidance and support every step of the way. Their dedication to our success fostered a sense of trust and confidence in their abilities. I would recommend Softlanding to any organization seeking a trusted partner for Azure initiatives.”
Iain Macfarlane, Sr. Network & Communications Analyst, BluEarth Renewables Inc.
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