CompoSecure Migrates from Azure to AWS and Upgrades Cloud Ecosystem

Executive Summary

CompoSecure is a multifaceted financial services organization with a long history of innovation dating back to 1910. The company is a developer of premium financial cards for many of the top banks around the world. CompoSecure is also a leader in digital security technology that produces ID and authentication solutions for the cryptocurrency, gaming, and gambling industries..

As CompoSecure has evolved from a purely manufacturing business into a technology company, its IT needs have grown more complicated. That’s why CompoSecure determined it needed to migrate from an immature Microsoft Azure environment to AWS with the help of a top-tier cloud services provider.

The Challenge

Over time, CompoSecure had built up robust DevOps and development capabilities. However, the company’s existing Azure cloud environment couldn’t keep up with the leadership team’s growth ambitions. CompoSecure wanted to improve the security, efficiency, and performance of its IT infrastructure by moving to AWS and adopting best practices under an aggressive timeline.

Furthermore, CompoSecure wanted to increase development productivity. The company was having trouble finding Azure experts and couldn’t follow through on all product development aspirations. Moving to AWS would increase the potential talent pool and equip existing engineering resources with better tools. At the same time, it was critical for CompoSecure to keep its new environment fully secure and compliant with the SOC 2 regulatory standard.

After some reflection, CompoSecure decided that executing the migration successfully would require help from a cloud implementation expert like ClearScale. CompoSecure had limited capacity to conduct the migration independently and knew it would be expensive to hire experienced DevOps engineers. Therefore, working with an AWS Premier Tier Services Partner with the AWS Migration Competency, like ClearScale, made sense. CompoSecure was excited to be able to lean on ClearScale’s expertise and experience, as well as move more quickly than would be possible otherwise.

The ClearScale Solution

At the beginning of the project, ClearScale gathered CompoSecure’s performance requirements and created a project plan. After both parties agreed on the vision, ClearScale moved forward with the migration. Along the way, CompoSecure and ClearScale remained in constant communication (three meetings per week) and used tools like Jira and Slack to stay organized. ClearScale also made sure that CompoSecure team members knew what they had to deliver and where to always put it to support the migration.

To help improve dev productivity for CompoSecure ClearScale migrated the application workloads from Microsoft Azure’s Docker Swarm cluster to the Kubernetes environment managed by AWS Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS). And for data storage, ClearScale utilized Amazon Aurora Global Database, knowing that CompoSecure’s PostgreSQL database would benefit from the high performance, availability, and fault tolerance provided by the AWS service.

The migration went according to plan and finished within CompoSecure’s timeline. After completing the migration, ClearScale handed over thorough documentation, enabling CompoSecure to take over the AWS reins. And thanks to the regular communication throughout the project, CompoSecure didn’t feel overwhelmed when it was time to assume responsibility.

ClearScale’s cloud security team also built and delivered its vSOC solution that empowers security analysts and security operations teams with the visibility, automation and insights needed to quickly detect anomalies and uncover advanced threats in real-time. This solution gave CompoSecure full visibility and control over its security posture, helping the company meet its SOC 2 regulatory compliance requirements.

The Benefits

After migrating to AWS, CompoSecure has a much more sophisticated and secure cloud ecosystem that follows modern best practices. The internal development team can now move much faster and deliver new features to market more quickly. CompoSecure is currently taking advantage of its revamped cloud environment to upgrade its cryptocurrency services, specifically, given how quickly the space is growing.

CompoSecure also feels more confident overall, thanks to AWS’ ability to deliver enterprise-grade support. And after a successful engagement with ClearScale, CompoSecure knows it has a trusted partner that can help expand its AWS environment as needed to meet market expectations and maintain its position as an industry leader.