The GFT difference: Azure engineering excellence

• Legacy Application Migration & Modernisation
• Infrastructure Operations Management & Optimisation
• Data Analytics 
• Azure IoT Solutions
• Azure Blockchain & Distributed Ledger Technology

GFT Azure Competency Centre managed services offerings are developed by combining these focus areas in the form of service packages. This includes building a practice around DevOps, infrastructure automation (IaC), and cloud-native application design. The Azure CoE uses the best Azure Platform features while designing solutions be it IaaS, PaaS, or FaaS (Serverless) offerings in order to meet our customers’ demanding, unique business requirements.

Infrastructure as Code Landing Zones

Infrastructure as code is a key requirement for most cloud adoption efforts. The shift to code-first, automated environment creation can add a learning curve for team members. GFT always adopts an infrastructure as code approach to any landing zone we deploy and any application we migrate.

Before deploying landing zones, it is assumed that centralised controls for identity, security, operations, compliance, and governance are identified and available to use as a set of shared services that all applications in the cloud can access. GFT can help define, implement and integrate this foundation.

All workloads (a collection of technical assets) within each landing zone will be governed by these central controls to establish a consistent baseline across the shared-architectural pillars of security, reliability, performance, cost, and cloud operations.

GFT has delivered a number of different deployments onto Azure for clients using a variety of tools; Terraform, ARM templates and PowerShell can all be used with great success to define the infrastructure as code and will suit any current or future state infrastructure deployment process. Azure DevOps, Jenkins, TeamCity and Octopus Deploy are some of the various CI/CD tools that can be used as the basis of the deployment pipeline.

When deploying infrastructure into a cloud environment, it is crucial that the correct governance is in place to restrict undesirable behaviour. As part of the cloud platform foundation, GFT can implement a number of solutions using policy as code or security posture management tooling.

In Azure, Azure Policies can be used to allow, deny or audit specific actions and attributes of services.
Policy as code is the idea of writing statements in a high-level language to manage and automate these policies. By representing policies as code in text files, proven software development best practices can be adopted such as version control, automated testing, and automated deployment. For multi-cloud and hybrid approaches, Azure Policies can be sent to centralised SIEM systems, or Azure services can be directly integrated with 3rd party security software. 
 

Secure your IoT Deployment

Businesses across industries are starting to place big bets on the Internet of things (IoT) and the value it will deliver in the coming years. Even now, real-time data and insights can improve performance and bottom lines. Innovative new experiences for customers can propel revenue and earn coveted market share.

However, to take advantage of the lasting value that IoT can unlock, organisations must prioritise security. The simple act of connecting devices or equipment introduces new threats to privacy, intellectual property, revenue, and physical safety. Building a foundation of security will ensure durability of innovation and business growth. Simply put, to be competitive in the long run, there is no choice: securing your IoT investments is a necessity.

Companies should carefully consider how the decisions they make now about IoT security could affect business projections, even in the short term. The complexity of IoT and its associated risks - to the company, its brands, and its customers - can be overwhelming; the security vulnerabilities and requirements of IoT environments are still evolving and can be difficult to frame and address.

The Internet of Things (IoT) helps companies in all industries to increase profits and customer satisfaction. But as helpful as it is, it is also complex – Microsoft has identified eight features that can
be the key to success.

Explore more within our Whitepaper "Azure IoT Central".

What are Blockchain-Enabled Digital Ecosystems?

From the first days of commerce, businesses have created, operated, and participated within ecosystems to exchange value. However, this value was often linear and analog. In today’s digital world, new requirements to operate within those business
ecosystems is needed. Digital ecosystems are different because they embrace the complexity of endless connections to be self organising, dynamic, and adaptive to exceed the sum of their connections.