Anritsu Service Assurance: Our Cloud Migration Journey
Over two years ago, Anritsu Service Assurance embarked on an exciting journey to the cloud. This voyage began in the heart of our organization and moved more quickly after a request from, let’s say, a prominent German Operator with a vision. As part of our commitment to them, we took on the challenge of running our applications on specified public clouds.
We quickly partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and initiated a multifaceted project, aiming to integrate Anritsu Service Assurance with cloud platforms fully. Here’s a friendly look at our journey so far:
Stage 1: Lift and Shift
Our first task was the “lift and shift” phase. Essentially, we moved our existing applications onto the cloud without any modifications. In just three months, we had a fully functional cloud-ready version of most of our applications, including eoSearch, eoLive, eoMind, eoFinder browse, and even eoSight for a short time.
We showcased our progress to AWS, which helped lay the foundation for future stages of the integration with more cloud-native services.
Stage 2: Architecture Development
During the first year, we focused on tailoring our platform to the cloud environment. We began intertwining our application architecture with various AWS services such as DNS Route53, Network load balancer, Application load balancer, autoscaling for virtual machines, and many others.
We aimed to keep our original software intact while ensuring it functioned seamlessly in its new cloud environment.
Stage 3: Automating Deployment
From the start, we recognized the importance of deployment automation. Thus, we dived headfirst into mastering various automation technologies. We used AWS CloudFormation, which helps you model and set up your Amazon Web Services resources. Today, we can deploy our platform on the cloud in mere minutes, a testament to the power of automation.
Stage 4: Certification and Validation
In February 2023, we earned the technical certification FTR (Full Technical Readiness) from AWS for our Enterprise Service Assurance platform. This was a significant milestone, acknowledging our hard work and success up to this point.
Stage 5: Venturing into Cloud-Native Architecture
We started testing Vertica eON on AWS’s Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) to support our shift to a cloud-native architecture. Preliminary results are promising, suggesting our data warehouse could reside on this platform. We are excited to finalize this integration in the coming months, ready for use by our customers.
Stage 6: Proving Our Adaptability
We completed many proof of concept (POC) projects last year. These POCs demonstrated that our system can adapt to various telecom and enterprise arenas requirements. We showcased this capability through some other large operators and P5G Enterprise projects with partners.
Current Stage: Final Preparations and Optimizations
As we write this, we are putting the final touches on our cloud integration. I want to point out that this journey has been shared by closely working with our customers. We have developed this expertise working alongside them on their journey, aligning to their timelines and looking to their needs as they move to 5G SA and the telco cloud. So alongside our customers and AWS, we are focusing on testing the final architecture in the lab, making sure it meets all the critical security requirements.
Meanwhile, we optimize our deployment regarding cost, architecture, resiliency, and automation. The aim is to finalize a cloud-native version that can thrive on all hyperscalers.
Our cloud migration journey continues today, and we are excited about the possibilities. Stay tuned for more updates as we navigate this dynamic landscape, unlocking new opportunities for Anritsu Service Assurance in the cloud! And if you have any questions, do let me know.
