A large-scale cloud migration trajectory with Autodisk

Autodisk has an extensive database with current car data that is used by leasing companies and fleet managers. In addition they supply various software solutions for the automotive sector. Until recently, all the application were located at their own server park. To save time and costs and to take benefits of the Cloud, we are now migrating al their applications step-by-step to Azure.

The situation

Autodisk is an established software developer and content provider in the automotive sector. They maintain an extensive database with current car data that they sell to leasing companies and fleet managers. They also offer several software solutions like license plate recognition and a lease price calculator.

At this moment there are more than 200 leasing companies in the Netherlands that use the Autodisk software. The working area has been extended to Belgium and Poland. In addition, the development team almost doubled last year. Autodisk is growing fast. So therefore it was time to take the IT environment to a higher level.

The Challenge

Until recently all the services of Autodisk were hosted in their own server park with their own hardware. Ralph Meijroos, head of the software development at Autodisk, explains; ‘’ Maintaining and replacing hardware is a time-consuming and costly task. In addition there are gains to obtain to improve the performance and scalability. I joined the Azure Fundamentals workshop for ISVs given by Intercept with some colleagues. We became very enthusiastic about all the possibilities within Microsoft Azure. We spoke to some Intercept employees right away and started working together.’’

The Solution

Autodisk is still in the early stage of the migration to the cloud. We started with a first design session around one application with an API for WLTP configurations. In addition, we synchronized the on-premise databases with Azure to build a central platform from there.

The first part of this platform is now available. Intercept supports Autodisk with resource balancing. For example; all the vehicle data and media are no longer on their own hardware, but in Azure Blob Storage, a scalable solution for data storage. Autodisk has the desire to take more steps towards the Cloud. They have hundreds of services and databases and we will gradually transfer them to Azure in the coming years.

In the meantime we have also started office automation for Autodisk by replacing the use of separate Microsoft licenses with an Office365 environment.

The Results

Autodisk is no longer burdened with maintaining hardware in the serverpark. Hosting services in Azure delivers both time and cost savings. Moreover, the change of downtime decreases sharply.

By making use of Azure Blob Storage Autodisk can easily scale up and down according to their usage. This means that the storage and performance needs of their software applications always be met.

AutoDisk now uses an Office 365 environment. A good replacement for their own Exchange server and the separate Microsoft licenses.

AutoDisk is in control of the entire process. We give extensive advice about the possibilities and opportunities with Azure. They can contact us immediately if they want to realize next steps.

‘’For us, the Azure cloud solution is quite new. During the Workshop Azure Fundamentals for ISVs,Wesley Haakman immediately convinced us of the power of the cloud. Intercept is incredibly strong in all aspects of Microsoft Azure. They give good advice on how we can host certain services and which Azure Services can take our services to the next level. Intercept is a pleasant and reliable party to work with.’’ Ralph Meijroos Head software development at AutoDisk