Cloud

With the advent of cloud technologies, there is a merit given to cloud native applications that put to use the strengths of platforms and processes developed using the cloud. There are numerous advantages to using Cloud Native Applications that can be leveraged by both medium- and large-scale organizations.

The cloud native applications are very scalable, easy to modify, and easily connect to cloud services to offer extensive capabilities too, with minimal coding.

What are Cloud Native Applications? 

The rationale behind the design and development of cloud native applications is the major scalability offered by these applications. There is a special focus given to developing a programme that highlights the strengths of the cloud computing architecture.

The special feature is that the cloud native applications are executed and hosted in the cloud and are built specifically to leverage the inherent features of a cloud computing software delivery model. A key attribute of a native app is that it is software that is put to use on a specific platform or device. 

Cloud native applications have the advantage of leveraging the microservice architecture, an architecture that is methodical in allocating resources to individual services that are used by the application. This feature ensures the application so developed is flexible and adaptable with reference to cloud architecture. 

Cloud Native Application Characteristics

The key attribute of cloud native apps is the ability to offer business agility across diverse verticals. These apps differ from other cloud-based monolithic applications in the sense that they are designed, developed, and delivered differently, keeping the features of adaptability, scalability, and portability in mind.

In addition, these applications are highly resilient, manageable, and observable with minimal effort. It's important to mention that cloud native apps leverage the features that cloud computing frameworks have to offer, thereby helping develop loosely coupled cloud services.

As the individual services are spread across multiple servers, there is a need to create a robust network between machines using software-based architecture by application developers. This architecture is the rationale behind developing apps that can scale out horizontally as well.

Microservices are the key minor apps that are part of the robust app architecture and are packaged in individual containers that further communicate and connect via APIs. There are orchestration tools available to manage the development of these diverse components. 

Cloud Native vs. Cloud-based Applications 

It’s important to throw light on cloud native and cloud-based applications for a better glimpse. Of course, both these applications are possible to run on public, private, or hybrid cloud infrastructures. However, there is a difference in design.

The cloud apps are natively designed to use the cloud and cloud platforms for enhanced performance by making use of dynamic cloud infrastructure. But there is a possibility that cloud apps may not be able to fully leverage the use of core cloud features.

On the contrary, cloud native apps can fully use the core features of the cloud as they are optimized to do so and are adaptable to the dynamic nature of the cloud, thereby helping build robust applications that are flexible and adaptable.

Cloud Native Applications : Key Capabilities

Apart from the benefits of cloud native applications, some key capabilities that are worth highlighting about these applications are detailed as follows: 

Microservices-based 

Cloud native apps are microservices based and are able to have individual applications or modules working independently. There is a provision to reference specific data and a business goal by these independent services.

The intercommunication of these modules is made possible by the apt use of application program interfaces (APIs). 

Application Program Interface (API)-Based 

There is a special attribute of the API that enables interconnectivity between containers and microservices and, in parallel, provides enhanced maintenance and security. There is a capability enabled for microservices for ease of communication, acting as the buffer required amongst the loosely connected services. 

Reinforced dynamic composition.

There is prominent use of container orchestration tools to control the container lifecycles, which is a tedious process.

There is complexity involved in managing resource management, load balancing, rescheduling multiple starts after an internal failure and provisioning, and while positioning containers on the pre-configured cluster nodes while using container orchestration tools. 

Software Containers 

The software containers are flexible to port, have integrated operating environments, and have an application and the set of software components required to run it. Containers are now the talk of the town in the software community and are a popular alternative to complex virtual machines.

This is possible by way of features as they are miniscule and typically measured in megabytes or even less. They are fast to deploy, and are reusable and easily portable. After writing an application, it is easy to move it to any platform, and most of the platforms are supported, enabling it to run without a hitch.

The application is now not bound to any specific platform, and there is an advantage to running it on any device as well as having sufficient resources to support it. 

Microservices, containerization, continuous delivery, and DevOps are the major provisions of cloud-native development. Additionally, cloud native apps leverage microservices to segregate the parts of the complex application and the data they rely on.

This is the prominent difference between the traditional monolithic architecture as an easy way of sharing data services across all services.

Building a Cloud Native Application 

There is a provision of using a low-code platform to overcome the complexity of traditional development methods and have the advantage of working directly with containers, microservices, and APIs to build a robust cloud native application.

There is a wise search required to shortlist the low-code platform that supports cloud native constructs and to select a full-featured platform-as-a-service. There is a consideration to be made when choosing a platform that includes a comprehensive set of tools for design, development, operations, and monitoring.

One needs to think differently while developing cloud native apps, and the traditional approach has to give way to iterative processes to create functionality quickly as services. Experienced developers are focused on how to develop and deploy the application by using the new agile development methodologies that put emphasis on modularity, reusability, and frequent code releases.

The developers should think about leveraging the services that are already available rather than reinventing the wheel. One needs to use creative developers who can knit together the services to create cloud native apps and express creativity in creating features in services that delight the end customers.

 

About Microservices Use in Cloud Native Applications 

Prior to building and operating cloud native applications, there is a requirement to strategize and even rethink the approach to application delivery. It is worth mentioning the different capabilities of cloud native apps that include DevOps, microservices, APIs, continuous delivery, and containers. 

DevOps refers to collaboration between IT operations and software developers to deliver a high-quality application. The collaboration helps in the easier creation, building, testing, and release of the software.

Microservices refer to an architectural approach involving the collection of small self-contained services that make up an application. Additionally, microservices break down an app into a series of independent services that may be referred to as modules.

Implementation of Business Goals

Each microservice has its own individual process and business goal, even if it comprises the same application. This character gives the advantage of scaling, upgrading, and deploying it on a need-basis. There is a provision to update the microservices frequently without any impact to customers as they comprise an automated system.

There is a provision for connecting microservices and containers and providing maintenance and security using the APIs. Continuous delivery refers to the process of implementing software changes incrementally using automation.

This gives an impetus to organizations to deliver software more frequently to receive continuous feedback that is helpful in application and feature enhancement. Containers allow the isolation of applications logically, making it possible to be run without physical resources.

Containers are the main reason behind microservices running independently of each other. Also, containers are considered faster and more efficient when compared with traditional virtual machines.

There is a potential for operating system level virtualization, making it possible to have multiple instances across multiple respective containers, each with a unique writable file system and quota of resources. This is the rationale behind individual microservices in respective containers, helping create robust cloud native applications. 

The Benefits of Cloud Native Applications and Sonata Advantage 

Application Deployment and Management Flexibility

The primary benefit of these applications is the ability to deploy them individually and manage them on a per-requirement basis. A well-designed and developed application is strong enough to withstand any infrastructure outage and remain online as these apps are more resilient.

Flexibility is one of the major benefits of Cloud Native Applications. There are flexible and easier deployment options for these apps across the network as they are more robust and smaller apps compared to traditional apps.

As the cloud native services are prominently based on certain standards and on open source technology, there is a reduced vendor lock-in, providing workload portability and interoperability.

There is an advantage to using the DevOps automation feature to provide continuous delivery with an enhanced capability to update services and deploy software without any major downtime.

Adaptability, Scalability, and Portability 

There is a possibility to tweak the cloud native application as per the needs of the business without any dependency that does not tie down the customers to a particular version of software. There is prominent usage of software-defined infrastructure, putting an end to any hardware dependency.

This is a path to horizontal scalability rather than requiring the addition of more expensive processors, storage, or memory to existing servers. There is a provision to leverage the containers and write applications that are operational on everything from smartphones to mainframes without any change of code.

With the ever-increasing usage of edge computing, a distributed processing architecture that enables automated decisioning in the network, it's possible to deploy applications wherever needed. 

Developed using advanced programming languages

There is a selection of web-centric languages to develop cloud native apps by using languages like HTML, CSS, Java, JavaScript,.NET, Go, Node.js, PHP, Python, or Ruby that give a lot more flexibility for developers to develop web-centric applications.

Working with more flexible and modern languages and platforms is of tremendous help when it comes to attracting top-notch professionals to work in the organization. 

Updatability 

The rationale behind developing cloud native apps is to build highly available, resilient, and regularly updateable apps. It is possible to update the app on a need-basis as these are developed and hosted on the cloud.

Traditional on-premises applications are typically updated infrequently and with a waterfall methodology.

The updatability advantage of cloud native apps provides a productivity boost for engineers to focus on competitive advantage and deliver new features to customers at a higher frequency in order to have updated and competitive applications.

Elasticity and Multitenancy 

Cloud native applications are built with the focus of leveraging the elasticity factor of cloud applications by flexing consumption based on the needs of the hour. There is no need for physical provisioning of additional infrastructure required to scale the applications, as is true for traditional applications.

This also results in a tremendous saving of infrastructure expenses as the cloud allows one to pay for what is being used, thereby helping avoid overprovisioning of extra infrastructure.

As this application is being used from a virtual space, there is a possibility of sharing resources with other applications as well, using a multi-tenant model, thereby bringing an efficiency boost to development teams. 

The Advantage of Automation 

Cloud-based applications have the advantage of greater redundancy due to the scale and spread of cloud-based geographically spread data centres, helping manage the outages quickly and redirect traffic to another close-by region, avoiding costly downtime.

These applications have techniques that open up a wealth of other automation capabilities for developers to build and manage other more pressing challenges.

These applications have the feature of being stateless, which opens up the possibility to scale easily across servers, cache more easily for a performance boost, use diminished storage, and avoid any unwanted lock-in to any specific server, and all of this is configured to be used automatically.

 

Sonata Advantage 

The aforementioned benefits are just the tip of the iceberg of the large-scale benefits organizations can avail of by getting these applications developed by Sonata.

Sonata software developed these applications using multi-tech cloud capability and has helped Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) scale their operations by providing state-of-the-art products and services with enhanced features to their global end customers.

There are apt skills available with resources to have a good grasp of how to get the most out of the cloud. For ISVs, the change can be hard, but Sonata understands the nuances of developing cloud-native apps and makes the ISVs adapt to the needs of the hour.

Rearchitecting the applications for the cloud is a significant engineering challenge that is made easy by Sonata. Sonata provides the right skills and helps adapt to the cloud-centric security model and manage the changing profile of a cloud environment with ease.

These applications are developed using the latest tools and methodologies and help save the product engineering organizations' costs and help them provide these applications at reduced prices and with faster time to market.

Sonata has skilled resources with experience in modern application development and cloud technologies developing advanced applications for ISVs. Sonata, by virtue of having catered to Fortune 100 software ISVs, ensures there is a smooth transition to the cloud for the ISVs without any chance to stumble upon any hindrance during migration. 

Benefit from Sonata’s Unique Platformation™ approach.

You will benefit in various ways as Sonata will apply its unique Platformation™ approach by developing digital platforms and working on product engineering to ensure ISVs develop products that are connected, open, intelligent, and scalable.

Sonata’s Platformation™ methodology brings together industry expertise, platform technology excellence, design innovation, and strategic engagement models to deliver sustained value to customers.

The Cloud Native apps are developed for ISVs using this proprietary methodology for a robust end product. The unique proprietary approach ensures cloud native apps are built using vertical agnostic multi-cloud platforms (AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform) as part of the Digital Platform and Product Engineering Capability. 

Conclusion 

To sum it up, Sonata has been developing cloud native applications for ISVs that are reliable, easy to manage, flexible, and portable. Also, saves time and the cost of development. One of the benefits of Cloud Native Applications is the ability to scale out as needed, eliminating the need for excessive investment in infrastructure.

This will help in enhancing the productivity of engineering resources, save time and money for the organization, and give it a tremendous competitive advantage. 

It’s been a decade since the advent of cloud technologies, and the result is clear: a cloud modernization strategy brings about tremendous value to businesses.  

Most importantly, the value is generated by enhancing performance and bringing agility to the business through the usage of modern cloud technologies.  

Engineering and IT heads in organizations are now looking for ways to accelerate digital transformation plans by using cloud technologies. There is a realization of the importance of the cloud as a key to achieving these ambitious transformations. 

It’s important to point out that the cloud journey is not just about technology; it also involves complex organizational, operational, and economic challenges. 

Cloud Architecture 

It's good to learn about the ways to manage cloud spend and what a cloud architecture provider actually provides. The use of cloud-based solutions induces agility and innovation in developing digital solutions at a reduced cost. It's no surprise that businesses prioritize legacy to cloud modernization via multi-tech cloud. 

A proactive approach helps businesses achieve digital revenue streams, smarter ways of working, and rapid availability of on-demand software applications, data, and infrastructure services to render an unbeatable client experience. 

The Value of Legacy in Cloud Modernization 

Achieve Business Transformation  

Streamline technical operations and control the risks associated with technical operations to drive revenue, control technical breakouts, and achieve business innovation, growth, and resiliency.  

Moving Beyond Modernization  

Enable an ISV (Independent Software Vendor) to achieve modernization and develop a business strategy to maximize cloud opportunities. 

Enhancing Digital Innovation  

Recreate enhanced customer experiences with an enhanced cloud architecture and digital innovation. Utilize the capability Sonata has for engineering products and services to develop solutions that help create unique, differentiated business solutions. 

About Legacy Systems in Use 

Earlier, businesses were using legacy setups, which is an information system with critical data that may be based on outdated technologies but is very important when it comes to running day-to-day operations. 

There is widespread usage of obsolete systems for core business purposes that is keeping companies from offering state-of-the-art services and bringing about revenue enhancement through creating faster products and services using the latest technologies, especially cloud systems.  

Fine tuned over the years, the obsolete systems have been framed to deliver specific functionality and there is an urgent requirement to modernize them.  

The disadvantages of obsolete systems 

It prevents repeat business. 

In a competitive market, stopping product organizations from developing enhanced business solutions and focusing on long-term customer retention also prevents repeat business. 

Outdated Systems 

Outdated systems can be exposed to crashes at any point of time. Although it is tough to specify the reason, old systems result in creating computer glitches and result in a painful client experience at times. The systems are developed with the lifecycle in mind, and the legacy system can be defined by its age.  

Lack of support options 

It is difficult to support, maintain, improve, or integrate with enhanced systems due to a lack of an advanced underlying architecture, technology, or a robust design. Going by market reports from reputed sources, more than 50 percent of IT resources are spent on managing age-old systems rather than shifting towards strategic and hi-tech applications. 

Many companies are using legacy applications regardless of the age or quality of the technologies under usage. There is a tacit understanding that software will keep on working just fine as it has been working for decades and will be able to cope with critical tasks. 

Why should you invest in Legacy to Cloud Modernization and Cloud Migration? 

The cost of running such an outdated system 

A significant amount of money is spent on the operation and maintenance of outdated systems, which run the risk of reduced efficiency, cybersecurity, and a lack of infrastructure to develop robust solutions. There is a strong need to invest more in research and development, infrastructure and application modernization, and enhancement of available technical resources. The numbers represent the tip of the iceberg as the actual hidden costs associated with them are huge.  

Major sources of legacy software expenditure identified include maintenance and support, integration and compliance, security, lost business opportunities, and reduced organizational agility and efficiency. Any major change or update to the legacy system requires time and effort, neither of which comes cheap or at a fast pace.  

Problem with system integration 

It's a challenge to maintain the underlying infrastructure as it ages. There is a specific technical environment required with more investment of time, money, and resources on maintaining legacy infrastructure, which is quite large compared to modern cloud-based solutions. 

Also, as the data is scattered across several databases and storage resources, it is hard to track and reorganize for increased storage space optimization. Transferring data to newer database systems is another time- and money-consuming task. 

There is a need for third-party APIs to reinforce critical capabilities, including user authentication, data sharing, and transactions. It is wise to use cloud-based solutions to leverage these features with easy integration of tried and tested solutions and avoid reinventing the wheel.  

Zero compatibility issues 

Modern cloud-based solutions are integration-ready by default and overcome the challenge of compatibility issues with obsolete or rare technologies. There is significantly less code development required to navigate modern cloud-based technologies used by third-party tools or services.  

Cloud modernization is a means of overcoming compliance hurdles such as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and others. 

Cloud modernization of products helps overcome increasing security breaches and overcome grave concerns regarding the vulnerability of outdated product development ecosystems.  

It is easier to support the issues by the vendor and there is a provision to provide patches and keep products and systems compliant with the latest security requirements.  

By investing in cloud modernization, there is room for innovation and identifying new opportunities in the industry, allowing ISVs to outperform their competitors and gain a larger market share. 

For instance, digital channels are increasingly driving growth in deposits and consumer lending. Thus, a cloud-based product offering can help lure customers from competitors and have more customer creation and customer retention. This is the scenario in mortgage and personal loans, digital lending providers, and the financial and healthcare industries, for instance. 

The Benefits of Cloud Modernization for ISVs 

There are distinct benefits for Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) by adopting cloud modernization.  

It is commonly heard that the cloud levels the playing field between small to mid-sized ISVs and large vendors and enables them to roll out hi-tech product offerings in a hastened way and retain clients in this era of cut-throat competition.  

Cost reduction 

It’s a major boon for small to mid-sized to large ISV vendors that they are able to reduce the source of the largest cost, i.e., IT infrastructure, and drive down the cost of operations.  

Without an in-house data centre, an ISV can easily plan to develop unique domain-specific product offerings and make worthwhile investments in research and development or quality-centric product enhancement. 

ISV can scale the data centre to the exact size and speed of access required by the vendor and end customers using cloud-based infrastructure. An ISV can rely on cloud-based services and wipe out the hard work of IT spending, thereby reducing speculative purchases and unnecessary IT investments. 

Ease of access and deployment of product offerings 

ISVs are likely to be impressed by the new, easy, and less cost-intensive access to data storage. In addition, there is a secure avenue of access to data and convenience of product usage over the web, as is true for Software-as-a-Service.  

A hybrid cloud service can be offered for the ease of clients to access sensitive data on-site while using refined data and business logic to develop product offerings.  

Safe handling of sensitive data 

Existing vendors can instantly update outdated products that are shifted to the cloud for quick access and convenience of clients, helping in client acquisition and retention.  

Architectural flexibility  

ISV can modify and tweak cloud sets to meet the needs of the situation. 

Scalability  

Scalability with ISVs means having the leverage to upscale or downscale IT operations as required. ISVs can use a hybrid cloud and take advantage of testing new technologies and capabilities without upfront capital investment, pushing refined products into production easily and quickly.  

A cloud modernization strategy has helped ISVs bring in resilience and crisis management capabilities as part of their core offerings. Achieving digital aspirations is dependent on how mature an organization is in leveraging IT infrastructure that is further refined by cloud modernization. 

Infrastructure is the first of three aspects, the other two being applications and services.  

The most important aspects of an ISV's cloud modernization strategy 

The cloud modernization strategy assists ISVs in addressing three critical factors, namely, 

• Transformational digital vision 

• Scalability flexibility 

• Improving CAPEX and OPEX results 

There is a provision to choose a flexible mix of cloud with varying features of Software-as-a-Service, Infrastructure-as-a-Service, Platform-as-a-Service and the latest Function-as-a-Service with cost benefits, ease of access, reliability and safety. 

ISV’s can create a fortune by offering products via the cloud to a global clientele and still save on marketing, sales, and delivery expenses. There is surely magic in cloud services in creating new opportunities. Timing of product launch is critical and it is advised to have better organisational agility and efficiency with cloud modernization and speed up product roll out with continuous delivery integrating product development. 

No wonder there is a competitive advantage, happier clients, future-ready business and bigger opportunities available by going in for legacy to cloud modernization. 

Sonata Advantage for ISVs for Cloud Modernization. 

There is an availability of skilled resources and specialists required for cloud modernization. Giving you the benefit of increasing your customer base and capacity by leveraging the services of an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) partner, which could be a major cloud provider. You can easily navigate the storage space and speed of operations as per customer needs.  

Providing cloud computing services that help in market growth generates enhanced ROI and profitability. Avail the experience of Sonata and monetize the advanced cloud-based services and products that generate new revenue streams while fulfilling the expectations of your existing customer base.  

There is use of multi-tech cloud capabilities, creative specialists with agile-driven working environments that enhance workforce effectiveness and value creation for ISVs. There is an intelligent use of innovative business models applicable in multi-cloud digital environments with the growth-oriented mindset of experienced professionals.  

Carrying out a well-planned approach using industry best tools and methodologies to ensure successful legacy to cloud modernization and make the complex tasks simpler. A well-planned retirement schedule is created for legacy applications till the brand-new cloud-based system is running without a hitch. an approach with empathy for the ISV staff, with due effort invested in training and guidance needed by the ISV staff to manage cloud-based applications. 

Conclusion 

Sonata takes a holistic approach involving infrastructure, applications, and services to help ISVs realize the full benefits of cloud modernization with Azure. Sonata has the experts to guide ISVs concerning a 360-degree approach for effective results as the cloud is now at the heart of digital transformation journeys. The cloud is now a key lever in rapidly transforming businesses at scale.  

Sonata assists in narrowing the cloud partner selection in terms of security, scalability, flexibility, and affordability, as well as relieving the ISV of the associated Cloud Modernization strain, ensuring long-term productivity for businesses.

 

In API Modernization, APIs need to be treated as products rather than projects. API Product perspective needs to be embarked upon in order to take complete advantage of the booming API Economy.

With the fast use of cloud computing and changing business requirements, businesses need to stay competitive and provide an environment that allows for scalability and creativity.

With monolithic existing systems, tightly coupled components, and increasing volumes of data, the systems are not built to handle today’s business requirements, which need real-time data, support event-driven interactions, and scale on demand.

It is now essential to modernize these applications to respond to new market demands, advancements in technologies, and consumer expectations.

Approach for application movement

A complete API Management Platform can help any organization to start with their API Modernization journey right from scratch. The basic API platform helps build robust API Programs which can lead to greater business revenues and achieve the business goals, and KPIs set by the enterprises.

There is a need for the right approach to move these applications. If the application is smaller to medium-sized and slightly stand-alone, we can take an approach of refactoring, rearchitecting the solution, or even replacing it with more modern off-the-shelf alternatives. 

However, the process of determining the approach becomes increasingly complex for larger applications with multiple component integrations. An understanding of the business processes and an evaluation of the current application landscape can help formulate the right API modernization strategy. 

API modernization strategy typically could be a mix of refactoring, re-architect, and retire decisions based on an organization's resources, time, budget, or other constraints.

Why APIs or Application Programming Interfaces?

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are one of the most efficient and flexible ways of modernizing legacy systems. APIs provide a standardized way for applications to expose their functionalities and data, thus providing integration capabilities for a connected environment and enabling the experiences required by customers.

Over the years, we have worked on numerous API modernization projects across several verticals like construction, travel, hospitality, manufacturing, etc. One such system was an HR system specialized for end-to-end cabin crew management for a reputed aviation client. 

The existing system was a mix of several thick and thin client applications, built using varied technologies, all connecting to one common Oracle database. This has resulted in significant issues such as:

• Manageability and Reliability issues

Manageability and reliability issues due to duplicated functionalities, lack of data ownership, etc.

• Maintainability

Issues with maintainability are caused by the spread of business logic across applications and database stored procedures.

• Performance

Performance bottlenecks are created by several applications communicating with the database directly and sometimes non-essential and long-running requests take priority over more critical ones.

Understanding API Modernization and workflows

This was not just an IT problem because, eventually, this ended up in some disconnected processes, confusing workflows, and a poor user experience overall, which was impacting the business users significantly.

After a thorough understanding of the system and business processes through several discoveries and design workshops, system study, and brain-storming sessions. 

We concluded that a re-architect and re-engineer approach would best be in this situation as it allowed us to consolidate the workflows, technologies, etc. and build a more scalable, resilient, and future-proof system.

Ways of Adoption

The first step was to carve out the functional domains for the system. This allowed us to adopt a domain-driven design and microservice architecture to better manage the data and functionality ownership. We also finalized the data strategy. 

Even though we wanted to maintain a database per domain to allow scalability at the database level, we had to decide on a single database given the licensing and maintenance overhead. Eventually, we settled on a schema-per-domain approach. 

This gave us the flexibility to break out into individual databases in the future if necessary. Additionally, we also finalized the retention and archival policies.

Building APIs

Once we had the functional domains and key entities for each domain defined, we went ahead with the API build. We decided to build the APIs using ASP.net WebAPI on DotNet Core 3.1. To expedite the development, we made use of our in-house code-generator framework that we have developed over the years from our collective experience in building web applications. 

This significantly reduced our work as the framework bootstrapped the code for us and provided for all the cross-cutting concerns like security, logging, exception handling, base ORM implementation, request/response handlers, API-to-API communication, service health monitors, etc. out of the box. 

This allowed the dev team to focus their efforts on building just the business functionality and code quality. The API documentation and discovery were managed using Swagger, which again came from our code-gen framework.

Performance of APIs

 

We put great emphasis on the API performance and used JMeter to build a performance test suite that measured the performance of each key module not just for its current usage but with a projection of capacity for 5 years into the future.

We used Hangfire to build a background job framework that served two purposes: first to schedule and trigger routine jobs and second to allow asynchronous operations. This came in very handy in designing our data integration framework around this as well. This was required as the HR system needed to interact with several other systems like rostering, attendance, CRM (Customer Relationship Management), etc.

Finally, the front end was built using React. We used Azure DevOps for branch management, CI/CD, and Work management.

Conclusion

Everything was not smooth sailing and there were several challenges like functionalities that spanned cross-domain, some modules that had high-performance requirements, etc., and other technical challenges that we faced along the way.

However, we were able to put six critical modules into production in less than a year and were able to improve the user experience of critical processes for more than 100 back-office users and 10000+ crew. 

We have built a system that is future-ready, can be scaled at need, and is open for integration through a robust API framework. For any questions you may have please contact our experts at Azurehelpdesk@sonata-software.com. Our team will be delighted to help you out.

Companies today are dealing with data of varying sizes and frequencies. These organizations are looking beyond the constraints of traditional data architectures to enable cloud scale analytics, data science, and machine learning on all this data. The lakehouse architecture pattern is one architecture pattern that addresses many of the challenges of traditional architectures.

Lakehouses combine data lakes' low cost and flexibility with data warehouses' dependability and performance. Several features are provided by the lakehouse architecture.

In this blog, we explain the technical architecture of the data lakehouse and illustrate the benefits of the same. 

Pros of Cloud Data warehouse

The most compelling reason for adopting a data lake architecture is to separate the storage and compute layers. But what's the big deal about decoupling storage and compute? This becomes clear when we consider that compute is nearly ten times more expensive than storage. Computations in a data lake during batch processing are only performed for a few hours each day. Big data clusters are created just before the job begins and destroyed as soon as the job is completed.

Easy Cloud Data Warehouse Architecture

Let us understand the Architecture a bit. 

The Architecture of a Data Lake storage is depicted below;

RAW Data --- Bronze Layer:  

Batch data ingested from Azure Data Factory (ADF) and Event Data such as IOT data are stored in Azure Data Lake as RAW data in the same shape and form as data ingested from source systems.

CURATED DATA --- Silver layer:  

Azure Databricks is used to curate RAW data. Using Delta Lake, this layer will merge incremental data from data sources. Curated tables will be visible to Azure synapse users and used for data analytics, machine learning, and other purposes.

AGGREGATED DATA --- GOLD Layer: 

Aggregated results are stored in Azure Data Lake store. 

• Insights from both structured and unstructured data.
• It caters to different organizational personas.
• It makes it easier to implement a strong governance framework. 
• It addresses data warehouse challenges such as architectural complexity, balancing flexibility and discipline.
• Enables domain-driven Microservices-based Data Mesh Architecture with the ability to share data while ensuring domain isolation.

The image illustrates the above layer and reference Architecture of Azure Data Lake storage 

The Data Mesh Architecture, the greatest Architectural benefit of Data Lake Storage design is as below:

Each domain data lake house can have its own data catalogue, and the master catalogue is the data mesh catalogue.

Cons of Cloud data warehouse

Cloud data warehouses and data lake storage face the following challenges:

Handling Data Validation

Data Lake pipelines will handle data validation and schema adoption. The schema of incoming files changes by the time things are moved to production.

Concerns about data security and data governance

Regulations such as GDPR impose legal accountability and impose severe penalties for noncompliance. As a result, proper security and effective methods for data discovery, classification, and lineage tracking must be established. Data cataloguing, tagging, and the establishment of access rules are all required.

Conclusion

To summarize, we discussed Data Lake house in all of its facets in this blog. The data lake house is the most recent and hotly debated technology topic in enterprise data. Many enterprise solutions have been simplified as a result of a thorough understanding of this concept, and the true business value of data has been determined. We have also summarized a few limitations of this concept, which are most likely to be overcome in a few months.

Worried about getting the right digital infrastructure? We are here to help you with any technical, management, governance, assessment, migration, modernization, or optimization questions you may have.

Please contact our experts at Azurehelpdesk@sonata-software.com. Our team will be delighted to share their solutions and ideas with you at no cost.

 

Make a statement often enough and eventually it becomes lore. Like the claim cloud computing is less secure than systems based on-premises. Cloud computing is helping companies reduce IT burdens. 

The cloud also helps grow productivity and expands security. Also, leverage small businesses with the latest computing technology. Here’s how the cloud can help your business grow and why the cloud matters.

What is cloud computing?

Cloud computing is a network of servers associated with using the Internet. The main function is to share data, resources, and software. The Internet acts as the hidden cable that connects everything. This contains all physical and virtual servers all over the world. 

Cloud computing is promising as we can store all the files and data on remote databases rather than being limited to local hard drives or storage devices. This expands not only to single files but also to a huge bunch of data.

How Does Cloud Computing Work? 

Cloud computing is divided into two sections: the front end and the back end.

The front end is the side where clients access the Internet for data. This contains computers, computer networks, applications, and all standards for clients to access the cloud computing system. 

The back end contains all things needed for cloud computing services. This includes servers, computers, data storage systems, programs, and all necessary aspects to provide different cloud computing services. It provides a complete dedicated server for each computer program. 

Benefits of cloud computing

1. Cloud computing allows for more checks and balances

In a traditional data centre, if the root system administrator’s credentials are compromised then it’s game over. There’s no protection at the service level. In contrast, cloud computing offers multiple layers to safeguard valuable data and processes, including role-based access controls, service level authorizations and secured access tokens for each cloud resource. 

There are also Data-at-Rest and Data-at-Transit protections available.It's not just data that’s well protected in the cloud. 

There are different security frameworks and cloud vendor-specific solutions for applications (OAUTH token-based authentication, SAS security tokens for cloud services access, Cloud application firewalls) and networks (Virtual Network security at IP level, Application Gateways and Cloud Firewalls, private endpoints, service endpoints, Virtual Private Networks).

2. Cloud computing is governed by industry-wide security standards

While Cloud customers remain responsible for security at the enterprise level, cloud computing platforms have robust security standards in place to support them.

All cloud vendors have implemented the NIST cybersecurity framework which promotes using end-to-end visibility for threat alerts, logging, and monitoring. 

For example, Microsoft Azure has services like Azure Security Centre and Azure Defender as Microsoft Cloud security Posture management and Azure Sentinel as cloud-native SIEM services.

There is also a well-established range of international and jurisdiction-specific standards for data protection. These include the EU data protection Code of conduct, ISO 27001/27002 (information security management systems), the USA Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), COBIT (control objectives for information and related technologies), ITIL certification, and SAS 70 security audits. 

These are just as relevant to cloud-based information management as they are to on-premise data systems, providing greater assurance to enterprises and their clients and customers.

3. Cloud computing offers a better defence to ransomware and faster recovery

Organisations can protect themselves against ransomware and other attempted data breaches through techniques like privilege escalation, credential access, lateral movement and exfiltrations (called MITRE key attack vectors). They can also tighten security postures and implement threat hunting.

Just as importantly, in the event of a successful attack, enterprises operating from the cloud can return to the market faster. Because cloud security is layered, breaches are detected earlier and at a point closer to the attacker. 

Security walls are activated as soon as a breach is detected, allowing time to eliminate the threat before catastrophic damage. Cloud-based activity logs allow for fast, automatic system restoration and a speedy return to normal operations.

4. There are cost-effective cloud security models for every user.

Implementing end-to-end cloud security doesn’t have to be expensive. Most security services are offered on a pay-as-you-go basis, which is a cheaper licensing model. Security operations can also be centralised to leverage global deployment benefits.

5. Cloud security can be managed with established protocols

After more than two decades of development, there are now established design patterns for cloud computing. These are well documented, with an emphasis on rigorous security standards.

At the outset, cloud architects should implement an ordinations specific Active Directory. Then authentication mechanisms, various security tokens, lasers, firewall placement and services can be integrated. 

Once this is done, network security can be addressed through well-defined IPs with various private links for services, followed by application considerations. Then governance and monitoring frameworks should be implemented as the final safeguard for cloud safe platforms.

Conclusion

Sonata Software’s unique Cloud Platformation™ approach delivers a superior cloud journey, ensuring every piece of the digital stack operates in cooperation with lower-level stacks and responds on demand. We have a proven track record with Azure, AWS & Google alliances on IT infrastructure, cloud, and solutions. 

Sonata Software’s cloud computing solutions managed services for cloud offer design, delivery, and daily operational support for computing, storage, and virtual networks on the cloud environment.

Contact us now or submit the form below for a no-obligation conversation about your enterprise goals and digital agenda. Write to us today at azurehelpdesk@sonata-software.com.

 

Businesses today strive to be more intuitive, responsive, agile, and efficient—in a word, more intelligent. At the heart of this enhanced 'intelligence' that transforms a standard business into a visionary enterprise are technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, business intelligence, smart contracts, virtual/augmented reality, and intelligent infrastructure. This competitive advantage can only be obtained through the use of an 'Intelligent Cloud.'

Companies have been increasingly migrating data, applications, and development work to the cloud in recent years, a trend that has accelerated since the pandemic sparked an increase in remote work and eCommerce operations.

Organizations are establishing or expanding hybrid-cloud strategies in greater numbers than ever before as they advance in their digital transformation journey and deal with the additional problems imposed by the global health crisis and its influence on business processes.

However, operating and administering an environment backed by many cloud solution providers and services has unique issues. IT and business leaders must solve these challenges if their firms are to prosper in a multi or hybrid cloud era.

Cloud computing represents a significant departure from the traditional way that businesses think about IT resources. Here are seven of the most common reasons why businesses are turning to cloud computing services:

•  Cost
•  Speed
•  Scalability
•  Productivity
•  Performance
•  Reliability
•  Security

With the Sonata Cloud Platformation^TM concept, organizations have an exciting opportunity to reinvent or reimagine their businesses and repurpose their goals to achieve higher growth. It is time for organizations to build their digital transformation agenda.

Sonata's Platformation^TM approach provides a complete framework, standard tools, processes, and technologies in one single place. It integrates partners, suppliers, and consumers all in one place and helps you to drive your business capabilities.

Sonata has an unrivalled history of delivering digital and cloud platform services for global clients. We have a strong understanding of the cloud and have been a Microsoft expert partner for over 30 years. We use AI and machine learning to handle the challenges and accelerate innovation for a quicker solution and greater efficiency.

Sonata's Azure Services help in harnessing the true potential of the cloud. Our unique 16-point framework for developing reliable architecture and value-driven roadmaps and platform engineering strategy and capabilities helps you execute your digital roadmaps. Our Azure Services help organizations transition workloads between public and private clouds.

A flexible digital infrastructure is necessary to meet the goals of a digital business so that it can adapt to change. Our Platformation^TM method helps businesses migrate and modernize while securing their assets, resources, and data. With the help of our unique framework and Lightning tools, we ensure that your cloud journey results in increased visibility, decreased time to market, quality, and governance of your apps and platforms.

What are Lightning tools?

"Sonata LightningCloud is a set of tools and accelerators that help enterprises migrate to the cloud. The framework is compatible with the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework and Sonata's proprietary frameworks, procedures, and tools."

We help you define a clear roadmap, focus on activities, and build a flexible, future-ready digital infrastructure. The focus is on optimizing the costs and operations and improving customer experiences. We leverage our toolset, IPs, and solution accelerators. Our services include infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS), and software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings.

"With Sonata's assessment, migration, and modernization services, you can modernize your servers and data center environments while migrating to the cloud, scale up your IT resources to meet demand, and boost the resilience of your underlying infrastructure."

Your cloud migration will not be the same as everyone else's. We know each journey is unique. We have helped organizations across a range of domains and sizes through successful cloud transformations. And we can help you with yours. If you face any challenges in your cloud migration journey, please reach out to us and, our experts will get in touch with you. Write to us today at azurehelpdesk@sonata-software.com. 

 

Not all Microsoft Service Partners are created equal. Some, like Sonata Software, are recognised experts, having passed rigorous auditing to prove they have what it takes to deliver business solutions for their customers.

Adding to its 18 Microsoft Gold competencies, Sonata Software is now a recognised expert in Azure services.

We earned this latest badge following a rigorous onsite audit of our IT service management capabilities across people, process and technology, where we demonstrated an ability to deliver consistent, repeatable high-fidelity managed services on Azure.

It’s recognition that Sonata Software is a highly technical organizations with skillsets across DevOps/Sysops, architecting cloud solutions and technical professional consulting, offering repeatable, highly automated solutions to enable and support hyper-scale cloud implementations.

Don’t just take our word for it. Microsoft employs an independent third-party audit company to assess compliance against the Audit requirements. The Azure Expert MSP Audit is a systematic, independent, and documented process for obtaining evidence and evaluating objectively to determine the extent to which Audit criteria are met.

Of course, the proof of the pudding is in our client success stories. We’ve harnessed the power of Azure to provide business solutions across many industries, including:

•  Faster workflows and Smarter decisions through a scalable Data platform for a mobile technology leader
• Improved inventory management efficiency using AI/ML based demand forecasting model and intelligent data insights for a precision component delivery system leader
• Migration of on-premise applications to Azure Cloud for a leading brewery with more than 50,000 employees

Sonata Software is proud to be recognized as an Azure Expert Microsoft Service Partner. To set up a meeting to discuss any technical, management, governance, assessment, migration, modernization, or optimization questions you may have, contact us at azurehelpdesk@sonata-software.com. 

 

Globally, companies are expected to spend $450 billion on migrating to the cloud in 2022, says Gartner. A clear roadmap is a must for a successful digital transformation. It should balance the immediate and future needs of the company.

CIOs are looking for cloud solution providers to successfully execute while also optimizing costs. The deployment options you choose will impact your journey in the cloud environment. In addition to streaming more data from the cloud, new ultra-fast networks like 5G and Wi-Fi 6E can stream new types of data. The explosion of cloud gaming platforms such as Amazon Luna, which will see increased investment throughout 2022, demonstrates this.

It is this fact that will drive the migration of more services to cloud platforms, since cloud technology makes everything lighter, faster, and more accessible. It will also answer your major questions about the security concerns.

The Introduction of "Hybrid-Cloud" solution

Earlier, when businesses started migrating to the cloud, they traditionally had two options. They can either use the public cloud for easy access, with a pay-as-you-go model, or a private cloud for more customized and flexible solutions. The "best of both worlds" approach is being adopted by companies today as they introduce hybrid models

Tools, applications, and dashboards can be used to access data that needs to be quickly and frequently accessed, perhaps by customers. Keeping sensitive or mission-critical data on private servers with controlled access and proprietary applications is also an option.

As a result, many companies are now in a "hybrid" environment, utilizing services from multiple suppliers. The convenience of a hybrid cloud makes this easier, as the focus is on simplifying the user experience while keeping the backend stack invisible when it isn't needed.

Serverless Infrastructure

The serverless cloud computing is a relatively new concept that's gaining traction in the market. In other words, organizations don't have to lease servers, pay for fixed amounts of storage, or pay a fixed amount of bandwidth because they can get these services as a service. It is anticipated that serverless computing within the cloud will play a significant role in creating new user experiences that enable innovation within the cloud and across the tech landscape.

Cost Optimization

It is common for companies to move to the cloud to lower their costs by reducing the number of servers or removing on-premises data centres entirely. However, if it is not managed correctly, a cloud environment can be costly.

Costs can be kept down by keeping the cloud environment simple. Too many elements combined in a multi-cloud architecture can lead to complexity over time. By using microservices to the maximum extent possible, you can simplify the cloud.

Security Concerns

When everything is on-site, cyber security is difficult enough. When data, apps, and platforms are spread across numerous locations, such as enterprise data centres and multiple clouds, the difficulty multiplies. Because an organization's internal security model must be implemented differently for each cloud, variations in security controls from cloud service to cloud service might raise the risk of data breaches.

Controlling access is, indeed, one of the most serious issues with hybrid-cloud security. Enterprises want a strong cloud-centric identity architecture that can federate with any cloud service of their choice. Critical business applications must be designed with adequate redundancy.

As per a Findstack report,at the end of 2021, 67% of all enterprise infrastructure was cloud-based and it is expected to go beyond 80% by 2022. Selecting the right partner for any company has become more crucial than ever.

Sonata Software has an unrivalled history of delivering digital and cloud platform services for global clients. We have a strong understanding of the cloud and have been a Microsoft expert partner for over 30 years.

Our Azure Services help organizations transition workloads between public and private clouds. A myriad of difficulties may be addressed with the help of AI and machine learning by optimizing firms' essential skills. To achieve resource efficiency, the AI-based cloud encourages accelerated innovation and faster computing.

In our next blog, we will talk about how Sonata Azure Servicescan help you overcome these business challenges and provide a solution that fits your requirement best.

We are here to help you with any technical, management, governance, assessment, migration, modernization, or optimization questions you may have. Write to us today at azurehelpdesk@sonata-software.com

 

 

This article briefly summarizes the best practices for cloud migration using data, services, applications, and analytics platforms.

As companies are migrating their IT workloads to the cloud, there is a need for managing this transition. A recent study suggested that almost 41% of an organization's workloads will be migrated to the cloud by 2020.

Cloud Migration is the process of shifting an organization's resources, data, services, and applications to the cloud. The important aspect of the migration is to ensure that the on-premise workload is reduced and transferred to the cloud. But it is not a straightforward strategy.

Security is a major concern for organizations, and in this blog, we share some of the best practices for cloud migration that organizations need for security.

Cloud Migration Best Practices

Designed by Freepik

• Creating a roadmap for the migration strategy

A comprehensive roadmap for cloud migration helps companies understand the vision, scalability, security, and governance aspects involved in the transition. Companies should start the migration process only when they have a clear roadmap.

• Developing a Cloud Governance Framework

Considering that compliance and security are among the top concerns for companies moving to the cloud, it is critical to create a cloud governance framework. The framework helps companies understand the risk of trusting data and applications to third-party services. It helps in realizing the structures, roles, responsibilities, plans, objectives, and measures.

• Optimizing the Network

Choosing the right network is crucial to gaining the trust of organizations. Their biggest worry is not having a secure and fast network to carry the load of the resources.

• Empower the team

A cloud migration strategy requires a team of experts who have the required skills to help in moving to the cloud. Training the team is one of the most critical parts of the cloud migration strategy.

• Leverage Automation

The major challenge of a cloud migration strategy is downtime or service disruptions. In a bid to minimize disruption and boost the efficiency of the cloud migration process, companies should leverage automated tools as much as possible. It helps to speed up the process and also reduces the cost and risk involved.

• Examine Cloud Utilization

Once the cloud transition takes place, companies can plan clearly and prioritize as per their requirements. A central dashboard would help users understand the data and performance of applications.

 The Benefits of Cloud Migration

 

Designed by Freepik

 

• Scalability

Migrating to the cloud signifies the company has a better capacity to rise up or down based on the IT needs and business plan. For many businesses, cloud migration is one of the most important benefits and hence should make sure to use the best cloud migration strategies.

• Agility

Agility is more important now than ever before for businesses of all sizes. Faster decision making is possible with cloud services. It reduces the time and effort invested on the infrastructure of the system.

• Reduced Hosting Cost

Cloud Migration can help to reduce the operational costs while enhancing IT processes. The cost advantages of cloud computing are endless. 

• Recovery

It is effortless to recover the data using cloud based backup and recovery strategy, recovery also saves time and investment. For smaller businesses the cloud-based solutions are most beneficial.

• Security

Security problems like hacking, unauthorized access, data theft, identity theft and intrusions are secured in cloud computing environments. It provides the best security under these circumstances.

The Challenges of Cloud Migration

                                                                                                                                                                                  Designed by Freepik

• Increased Downtime
• Data Loss
• Security and Compliance
• Resource Management
• Failures of critical services
• Dealing with hybrid networking setups
• Human error
• Not Configuring Right Strategy
• Lack of Skills
• Avoiding vendor lock-in

Conclusion

A cloud migration needs cautious planning, testing, and implementing. The risks are high when a cloud migration process starts. The business and operations needs to be protected from the get-go.

 A right cloud migration strategy should assure that this factor is taken care of, and the businesses leverage the cutting-edge technology of the cloud to stream ahead.

Sonata has an unrivaled track record of delivering digital and cloud platform services for global clients, having worked with Microsoft for over 30 years. Companies across industries choose Sonata to create efficient platforms, build secure infrastructure, and deliver futuristic applications. 

Our unique Platformation™ approach ensures seamless customer engagement, frictionless operations, an expansive ecosystem, and optimized execution.

Watch out for this space for more updates. Worried about your cloud migration journey? Reach out to us today and we will show you the way forward.

 

 

Cloud has become the vital cog in the machine that is ‘digital transformation’. But how does it enable digital transformation for enterprises? Can Cloud accelerate some enterprise initiatives to stay competitive?

The answer, we believe is a resounding yes. From being cost effective to increased agility for enterprise projects, here are 5 key ways in which Cloud empowers digital transformation:

1. Flexibility:Cloud empowers enterprises with the ability to try and test the requisite platforms, infrastructure, data and processes without actually making heavy investments. The workloads and the business impact due to varied infrastructure setups provides enterprises with clarity on the optimal path for digital transformation.

2. Cost effective:Enterprises only pay for the used resources, making Cloud a very cost-effective model. With most enterprises looking to Cloud for scalability, it makes economic sense for them to leverage a pay-as-you-use business model to further their digital ambitions. The high maintenance costs enterprises bore the brunt of, cease to make a dent in their digital transformation budgets, because of the significantly lower Cloud costs.

3. Intelligent products:As enterprises adapt their business models around customer centricity, adding AI/ML, bots, automation to existing offerings makes sense to retain that competitive edge in the marketplace. Cloud initiatives offer enterprises the opportunity to not just migrate their existing digital assets to the Cloud, but also to leverage its huge AI and processing capabilities to create products for the customer-first market.

4. Security:From being as one of the weak points to arguably being the most important factor for Cloud adoption, many industries have widely adopted Cloud to prep up security for Business continuity contingencies. Enterprises looking at digital transformation initiatives can greatly reduce their risk of data breaches by leveraging Cloud for securing their existing data, or to prepare for exponential data surge related system failures if the data is stored in-house.

5. Collaboration:Digital transformation is one that requires multi-functional teams within the enterprise to work as one integrated business. With its myriad applications, Cloud offers enterprises tools that access, retrieve, process and deliver information with an always-on methodology, ensuring high levels of collaboration.

But can enterprises implement a Cloud-powered digital transformation on their own?

IDC predicts that public cloud spending will grow at an annual rate of 19.4 percent through 2019 to reach a total global spend of $141 billion, with SMBs contribute to 40 percent of this total.

The high cloud adoption rates and investments involved means that any Cloud-initiative needs partner expertise to align to the larger business objectives of the enterprise, to achieve quicker ROI. An efficient Cloud-empowered digital infrastructure comprises both technical and functional services meant to enhance customer experience, deliver scalable software, gain data insights, apply modern engineering and create reliable machine/containers for the digital business. Considering the underlying layers, the need for a framework or method to deliver more than the sum of the parts becomes imperative.

Sonata has a unique Cloud Platformation framework that helps enterprises conceptualize and create the modern digital Infrastructure needed for the digital agenda of the business. Our tools and processes enable your business with the right sized infrastructure that it needs, to drive Intelligent Transactions, Innovate with Open Systems and scale across Markets & Segments.

To know more about Sonata’s Cloud services that drives enterprise digital transformation, please click here.

Worried about your Cloud Migration journey? Reach out to us at info@sonata-software.com today and, we will show you the way forward.