Orica completes co-lo clear-out in shift to AWS

ASX-listed explosives maker Orica has exited its data centres worldwide and shifted all non-SAP workloads to be hosted in AWS cloud in multiple regions.

The multi-million dollar project was led by cloud integrator SXiQ, and saw 50 business applications re-hosted, re-platformed and refactored, along with 26 "infrastructure services".

These now run in a multi-region AWS tenancy, and support the company's manufacturing, supply chain, marketing, finance and digital functions.

SXiQ said in a statement that it designed and implemented an infrastructure-as-code methodology for Orica, using the Terraform open source tool, and Ansible automation management.

As part of the move, Orica has shifted out of the data centres around the world in which its systems were co-located, with assets in these now decomissioned.

Drivers for the AWS migration included the large capital expenditure to maintain Orica's ageing infrastructure, and also a technology landscape with multiple disparate products that added unnecessary complexity with legacy support challenges.

“This is a crucial, foundational step in Orica’s digital transformation journey," Orica's vice president of IT and cybersecurity Jamie Rossato said.

Rossato added that the move has unlocked cost savings and added business agility and innovation.

Orica's traditional delivery model was inflexible and unable to support global application teams' requirement for speed and agility, SXiQ added.

All up, the AWS shift took less than 15 months to complete.