SOUTHWORKS Migrations and Multi-Cloud Scenarios

In this presentation, Johnny Halife, CTO of SOUTHWORKS, discusses the company’s approach to cloud migrations and multi-cloud scenarios, focusing on how they help clients transition from traditional infrastructure to SaaS models. One of the key examples he provides is a customer who initially deployed VMs on customer subscriptions but wanted to shift to a SaaS model to reduce infrastructure costs and management overhead. SOUTHWORKS helped by containerizing workloads, leveraging Kubernetes, and using tools like Crossplane and Argo to manage multi-tenancy and compliance. The project was completed in nine months with three squads, allowing the customer to accelerate their time to market and reskill their workforce in cloud-agnostic technologies like Kubernetes, rather than being tied to specific cloud providers.

Another case involved a large-scale migration and modernization project for a company with 250 accounts and 100 teams across five regions. The company had acquired multiple businesses without integrating their technologies, leading to a complex infrastructure spread across various cloud providers. SOUTHWORKS created a blueprint using Terraform to streamline operations, prioritize managed resources, and ensure zero downtime during the migration. They also implemented a virtual network that connected data centers globally, allowing for seamless workload movement and high availability. The project took 14 months and involved 15 SOUTHWORKS engineers working alongside 30 client engineers, with a focus on creating a unified security and deployment strategy across the organization.

Throughout the presentation, Halife emphasizes the importance of flexibility, cloud-agnostic design, and the ability to scale rapidly. He discusses how SOUTHWORKS helps clients balance the use of advanced cloud services while maintaining the flexibility to move between providers. By creating abstraction layers and leveraging open-source tools, SOUTHWORKS enables clients to tap into the best features of each cloud provider without being locked in. Halife also highlights the importance of teaching clients to “fish” by integrating their teams into the process, ensuring they can maintain and evolve their infrastructure independently after the engagement.