A prominent insurance provider in Germany — specializing in legal insurance for motorists, businesses, and homeowners — embarked on an IT modernization journey. Their goal was to transition from a traditional mainframe architecture to containerized applications using Kubernetes.
Challenge
The insurance firm’s data, predominantly comprised of legal documents, demanded a storage solution that adhered to stringent German privacy laws. Cloud storage was not an option due to regulatory constraints, necessitating scalable S3-compatible storage on-premises that could conform to the government’s specific storage regulations. Flash-based storage emerged as the preferred hardware platform for their primary storage of production data.
Solution: Cloudian All-Flash Appliances
In pursuit of the ideal storage solution, the insurance provider selected Cloudian, a leading player in S3-compatible object storage. Recognizing the significance of compatibility, they were drawn to Cloudian for its industry-high S3 API compatibility, aligning seamlessly with the AWS S3 SDK. Moreover, Cloudian’s all-flash based appliances perfectly matched the performance requirements of their legal document-centric data.
The deployment comprised six Cloudian HSF 1007 appliances strategically configured across two sites. The implementation incorporated cross-region replication and RF3 data replication at each site, ensuring data durability and high availability.
Result: Satisfied Users and Developers
After several years of experience with Cloudian, both users and developers alike are delighted with the outcome. The solution successfully meets the performance and data durability needs of the users. The developers, in particular, appreciate the high level of S3 compatibility, which conforms precisely to the AWS S3 SDK. The consistent error codes between Cloudian and AWS contribute to a seamless integration experience, simplifying development and troubleshooting processes.
Conclusion
The insurance provider’s journey from a traditional mainframe to a modern, containerized infrastructure, powered by Cloudian’s S3-compatible object storage, stands as a testament to successful IT modernization. By choosing Cloudian’s all-flash based appliances, the insurance firm not only achieved compliance with German privacy laws but also elevated their data management capabilities, ensuring scalability, performance, and data durability for their critical legal documents. As the insurance landscape continues to evolve, this case study exemplifies the importance of choosing the right technology partner for a successful and future-proof IT strategy.
