Centratech Systems
/ Summary
Centratech was looking for a way to reduce ongoing maintenance costs and manage its water-monitoring systems centrally, rather than being distributed at a multitude of sites across the country. These sites were often deployed in locations with strict security protocols, which made on-site access for service difficult and costly.
/ The Issue
LeetGeek was asked to engineer a method of running the specialised software remotely, saving the need for a computer at each site. Legacy irrigation-control software needed to run and communicate via a 3G network to the remote sites. Staff at each site also needed to be able to log into and access the system efficiently.
/ The Solution
A proof-of-concept developed by LeetGeek quickly developed into a virtualised server solution using Hyper-V for multiple sites. The system worked extremely well and the need to expand the system further was recognised. Richard Freedman from Centratech expressed a desire to investigate the new Amazon EC2 'cloud' environment and a cost-comparison between in-house and Amazon infrastructure was undertaken.
With Amazon EC2 clearly emerging as the most scalable solution, LeetGeek engineers put their heads together to develop yet another proof-of-concept. Once again, this concept quickly developed into a live solution employed by multiple sites. A centralised management interface was developed, which allowed efficient backups and rapid deployment of new sites. Beatwave - the advertising agency who had referred us to Centratech, worked with us to develop a web portal to access the new system.
LeetGeek continues to refine and maintain the newly built Amazon infrastructure and is very proud of the milestones that have been achieved.
If you would like to discuss the development of 'cloud'-based infrastructure, give LeetGeek a call on (08) 7324 7777.