Challenge
O2 Czech Republic, the largest telecommunications service provider in the Czech Republic, faced challenges in managing its IT infrastructure, which was based on large monolithic applications running on on-premise solutions. These applications were heavily interconnected between the frontend and backend, causing complications when deploying new versions that required long downtimes. At the same time, releases were performed manually and only a few times a year. The main goal was to introduce agile management and increase flexibility in business requirements. The goal of the new technical solution was to break the monolith into smaller, more manageable parts, automate processes and reduce dependency on external suppliers.
Solution
Ness helped design and migrate O2’s IT infrastructure to the Microsoft Azure cloud environment. The basis was to split monolithic applications into smaller, independent parts using a microservices architecture that improved scalability and application management. Containers, the Openshift platform, and later the Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) were used to deploy and run applications, enabling stateless management. To ensure flexibility and rapid implementation of new features, Ness introduced automated processes using tools such as Azure DevOps, and the Apache Kafka messaging platform for system integration and data transfer. The solution also included the deployment of Azure PaaS services, including PostgreSQL, which reduced costs and increased efficiency.
Results
Migrating the IT infrastructure to Azure has led to significant improvements in the company’s operations and agility. The cloud-native approach has enabled the deployment of new technologies to be reduced from six months to just one month, significantly speeding up response to customer requests. Moving portal applications to the cloud has reduced overall costs by 30%. At the same time, the implementation of a microservices architecture brought better management and scalability, allowing the company to manage its applications more efficiently and reduce dependency on external vendors.
Interested in more information? Contact us at nesscz@ness.com