“Softjourn made the migration affordable and fast by providing resources to help us scale.”
PEX: Faster Scaling with Seamless, Secure Migrations and Resilient DevOps Solutions
How Softjourn's DevOps team helped PEX optimize their infrastructure, reduce costs, enhance security, and scale efficiently for future growth.
ABOUT THE CLIENT:
Challenge
PEX faced operational challenges during product expansion, including the need for seamless integration across hybrid cloud platforms, a migration from Windows to Linux, and the adoption of new automation and containerization technologies.
Solution
Softjourn provided DevOps expertise, facilitating PEX’s migration to Linux, implementing Docker containers, enhancing configuration management with Ansible, improving log management, and introducing Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) for enhanced security.
The Results
The collaboration resulted in cost savings, improved operational efficiency, enhanced security, greater scalability, and increased resilience, positioning PEX for future growth and technological advancements.
Introduction
PEX, a leading provider of innovative expense management solutions, has fostered a robust partnership with Softjourn for over a decade, collaborating on numerous projects to enhance PEX’s offerings.
In 2019, this collaboration deepened as Softjourn helped scale DevOps expertise for the PEX team, focusing on optimizing their infrastructure and preparing them for future technological advancements.
The Challenge
PEX’s product expansion created a new series of operational challenges, which were efficiently managed with advanced DevOps solutions. Operating in a hybrid cloud environment utilizing on-premise infrastructure, AWS and Azure, PEX needed seamless integration across platforms and efficient management of diverse systems.
As part of their strategic expansion to maintain agility, they initiated a migration from Windows to Linux, aiming to reduce costs and streamline infrastructure management.
Additionally, PEX transitioned to a different automation tool to accommodate licensing changes and take advantage of broader support.
To further improve operational efficiency, PEX also began adopting containerization technologies, enhancing the flexibility and scalability of their deployments.
Alexander Najem, Vice President of Engineering at PEX
The Solution
Softjourn helped PEX scale by providing DevOps team members; the collaboration allowed PEX to manage the overall cost of ownership and help address these challenges:
- Migration from Windows to Linux: Phased migration from Windows to Linux, cutting licensing costs and reducing server maintenance time. The final phase involved migrating to a new Linux platform, a critical step to ensure readiness for containerization, as well as improved support and security.
- Integration of Docker Containers and Microservices: PEX transitioned their microservice architecture to run in Docker containers, allowing services to run independently across platforms. Softjourn made this migration fast and affordable, improving scalability, flexibility, and resilience for PEX’s infrastructure.
- Configuration Management Enhancement: We facilitated the transition to Ansible, aligning with PEX’s strategy to manage a diverse range of targets, including routers, firewalls, switches, appliances, and web applications, alongside standard computer resources. Ansible’s extensive module availability and community support streamlined automation across PEX’s infrastructure, resulting in improved efficiency and more cohesive management of various system components.
- Enhanced Log Management: Improved log management by consolidating tools into immutable repositories, ensuring security and PCI compliance while also enabling improved operational oversight.
- Implementation of Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA): Accelerated replacement of outdated VPN technology with ZTNA across their environments, providing higher security with real-time monitoring and enhanced protection.
- Infrastructure as Code: By efficiently recruiting team members with knowledge of Terraform and Azure DevOps to expand PEX’s team, Softjourn reduced the cost of ownership by optimizing dynamic infrastructure management, minimizing manual oversight, and ensuring consistency across environments.
The Benefits
The DevOps initiatives supported by Softjourn have delivered substantial benefits to PEX:
- Cost Efficiency: The migration to Linux and optimized server management resulted in significant savings on licensing fees.
- Operational Efficiency: Patch times were reduced from 90 minutes per server on Windows to just 15 minutes on Linux, and the adoption of Docker containers enhanced deployment flexibility.
- Compliance and Security: The updated log management system and the shift to ZTNA significantly reduced cost of ownership.
- Scalability and Flexibility: The use of Ansible on the docker hosts, enabled PEX to scale system resources more efficiently and adjust rapidly to evolving performance demands.
- Resilience: With services now capable of running across various platforms, PEX enjoys greater operational resilience, ensuring continuous service availability.
- Experienced DevOps Team: Softjourn’s team helped scale PEX’s DevOps expertise, ensuring smooth collaboration and effective problem-solving throughout the project.
- Timely Delivery: Even with the complexity of the migrations, Softjourn accelerated timelines, helping PEX stay on track during a critical period.
- Round-the-Clock Support: With teams working across nearshore and offshore time zones, Softjourn provided continuous progress and support, providing resources to respond to availability incidents, and keeping the project on track.
Conclusion
The collaboration between Softjourn and PEX has been instrumental in scaling PEX’s operational capabilities. The strategic shift to more open and flexible technologies, coupled with Softjourn’s expertise, has not only enhanced efficiency but also positioned PEX to better adapt to future technological advancements.
The successful completion of these migrations reflects a strong partnership focused on continuous improvement and innovation, with PEX now well-equipped to face the future with confidence.
To learn more about how we can help your business scale with DevOps Services, please get in touch with us.
Partnership & Recognition
