Improving operational efficiency and decision-making by reimagining cloud architecture in line with business needs.  

Highlights

• Greater visibility into and control over cloud assets and instances
• Improved security and vulnerability management with AWS security and automated patching
• Transformed user identity management and centralized it
• Greater flexibility to deploy Microsoft Windows applications and workloads.

Overview

YMC India is a leading manufacturer and provider of pharmaceutical analytical equipment, components, and solutions. A subsidiary with global headquarters in Japan, they are leaders in providing solutions to pharmaceutical manufacturing in India. The India corporate office is in New Delhi and they have offices in Bangalore and Hyderabad. They have over 200 employees.

Requirements

They began their digital transformation journey with migration to AWS instance from their legacy, in-house data centre. However, the lack of appropriate hosting for their CRM, inadequate patching, unplanned downtime due to human error or dependencies, and decentralized identity management caused significant challenges in providing an integrated seamless information system catering to their sales and marketing operations.  

Key requirements of the digital transformation:

1. Centralized user management with adequate security features  

2. Improved access to sales and marketing systems, data, and processes  

3. Streamlined patch management.  

4. Improved visibility into the AWS instance and the services utilized.

The customer needed a solution that integrated the different aspects of their AWS cloud, which can also be managed centrally to address the legacy challenges.  

Solution

YMC India chose Velocis for its systems integration expertise, AWS Advanced Consulting Partner status, and experience in fast, reliable, repeatable, and cost-effective delivery (lift & shift) capability.  

After an assessment of the customer’s landscape, we made recommendations to implement an integrated solution combining AWS Systems Manager, AWS Managed Active Directory, Microsoft SQL Server on Windows EC2, Amazon CloudWatch, AWS CloudTrail, and AWS Security Hub.

The architecture diagram below, illustrates how the different components interact, and address the customer’s challenges.  

Key highlights of the solution:

1. Centralized user management using AWS AD allowed scalable access and remote desktop features to access the customer’s CRM applications hosted on Windows servers.  The solution was deployed using a Windows EC2 server to manage the Active Directory and provide a significantly simplified integration with the different applications and workloads on AWS.  

2. Automated patching using AWS Systems Manager’s Patch Manager ensured critical updates were automatically applied, reducing the need for additional downtime window for the manual application of missed patches.

3. MS SQL on EC2 allowed the customer complete control and customisation capabilities for their applications and workloads.

4. Cloud Operations and Security were no longer a concern for the customer, as the Velocis solution provided comprehensive visibility into the applications and infrastructure. With alerts, statistics, auditable records, and the overall AWS security posture available in a unified interface, the environment was fortified and infused with industry-leading security.  

Business outcomes

The solution was tailored to the customer’s requirements, considering their journey in moving from legacy data centres to the cloud. Velocis established a single Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) secured as per the AWS best practices for the customer. An OpenVPN server was also provided to address the concerns related to secure access to the server by their team. Additionally, the different AWS components implemented and integrated into the landscape offered distinct benefits:

1. User login using Active Directory integrated with TS Plus, a third-party RDP tool allowed for simplified and consistent user management.

2. AWS AD allowed the customer to balance user access with security and data protection.

3. Significant reduction in unplanned downtime with the help of automated OS-level patching during periodic downtime windows

4. Improved data management and insights with the AWS and MS SQL on EC2 instances  

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