In late 2018 the KNMI (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute) embarked on its most ambitious project of recent times. Over the past three years, it executed a remarkable digital transformation of its enterprise architecture and IT processes. At the core of this transformation is the migration of KNMI’s IT systems to the Cloud. A move from an aging on-premise data center, to a modern, well-managed Cloud platform. Devoteam has been a supplier of KNMI, and we have worked with KNMI along this journey. Today, KNMI has effectively both feet on the Cloud and stands poised to harness the benefits of this transformation. Therefore, it is only a fitting moment now to write about this large-scale Cloud migration. This case study is a first-person report that will dive into the anatomy of the project.
KNMI and its changing context
KNMI is probably one of the first data-driven organizations in the Netherlands. Change has been a constant factor in the 166 years of KNMI’s existence since its area of business lies in the geophysical environment, and this will be no different in the years ahead. Apart from the public, several important Dutch companies such as Rijkswaterstaat and Schiphol rely heavily on KNMI data. KNMI’s mission, as laid down in 2014, remains the focal point of its work:
KNMI advises and warns society about risks associated with weather, climate, or seismology that need to be mitigated to limit societal damage and injuries. It uses its top-quality knowledge, technology, extensive monitoring, and model network to offer products and services that contribute to the safety, accessibility, environmental quality, and prosperity of the Netherlands.
To help with its mission in the coming times, KNMI needed to expand its capacity to handle ever larger quantities of data, the ability to adapt and implement changes with ease, and to be able to test and deploy IT systems and models with increased efficiency.
What to expect in this case study
- KNMI and its changing context
- Why move to the Cloud?
- Application migration approaches
- Organizing the Platform team
- Architectural principles and their evolution
- Centralized support and response
- An agent of change
- Ready for the future
