“Onix and AWS enabled us to save on our capital expenditures around Solidworks, and their guidance and support also gave us a foundation to migrate additional applications to the cloud in the future.”
About the Customer
UNICO Technologies Group provides best-in-class motor control and protection solutions for a range of industrial applications. With an extensive network of manufacturing facilities and technical support centers around the world, the firm blends local service with centralized engineering capabilities. UNICO Technologies Group tailors its innovative control and electrical solutions to the specific requirements of each application, enabling its client base to increase efficiency and productivity while cutting operating and maintenance expenses.
Customer Challenge
As UNICO Technologies Group approached its refresh cycle with on-prem hardware, a transition to public cloud offerings looked increasingly compelling. The company was hindered by data that lacked flexibility and easy access since it was housed on undersized, on-prem servers. In some cases, laptops were even acting as servers. An internal assessment revealed that purchasing new hardware wouldn’t be cost-effective or provide sufficient resources to meet the demands of the firm’s forecasted growth. The high costs of housing some of the company’s applications at a colo facility were also a challenge. Lastly, remote work arrangements spurred by COVID-19 needed to be addressed, along with the fact that the existing architecture was unlikely to serve the company’s needs long term. Together, these factors prompted UNICO Technologies Group to connect with Onix for an exploration of AWS as a public cloud solution.
Partner Solution
Onix proposed a cloud migration solution coupled with AWS-led cloud learning. Leveraging a funding package provided by AWS, Onix evaluated the environment. The insights gathered from that exercise were used to develop the migration strategy and build an optimal architecture. AWS and Onix identified a DevOps server and an application called SOLIDWORKS — as the best candidates for the migration. Together the teams developed a high-level approach toward future migrations. Onix rehosted the customer’s DevOps server to AWS and deployed SOLIDWORKS in AppStream 2.0 to replace the individual versions the company had previously been running. Also included in the solution were all pertinent documentation, a cloud adoption workshop, and a variety of co-working sessions with the customer’s personnel to supplement the Office Hours cloud learning led by AWS.
Impact and Results
- Elimination of capital expenditures for buying the multiple high-powered workstations necessary for end-users to access the application
- Reduction in time spent by internal IT resources managing uptime and access issues for end users of legacy on-prem applications
- Greater agility for planned growth and deployment of additional services and applications
- Increased operational efficiency
- Cloud adoption and education about how to manage the AWS environment.
