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Delivering mission critical next -gen IOT customer software through cloud integration
Gallagher Security had a market leading, military grade solution for physical access control and perimeter protection that incorporated a range of application software, firmware and hardware components produced by Gallagher Security, and widely deployed in New Zealand, Australia and globally to manage and protect physical perimeters in high-risk environments.
Client & location:
Gallagher Group - New Zealand
Date:
2023
Background
Gallagher realised that though they had a large and industry-leading software engineering practice and associated disciplines around (what amounts to) the development of mission-critical on-premise industrial IoT applications, they lacked the necessary experience required to enable their software delivery organisation to adopt public cloud and hybrid cloud, microservice architecture, and an event-based distributed model for delivering the next generation of their software offering.
Highlights
Initially our people helped Gallagher Security develop a suitable strategy, technology selection, and deployment reference architecture to enable safe and speedy adoption of public cloud (AWS was selected) into highly sensitive areas of their business, with a focus on ensuring that hybrid, and disconnected deployments could be supported using the same approach and architecture with minimal overhead.We helped create a cloud-native reference architecture for Gallagher underpinned by container-based SPA and microservice application components loosely coupled by event streams capable of deployment to any hyperscale cloud under a SaaS model, customer hosted deployments, and physical infrastructure in restricted on-premise environments.
This architecture was supported by a template-driven approach that incorporated higher-order automation, which we now understand to be central to effective implementation of a Software Factory - that is through automation that creates and manages other automation software assets, a capability which was then realised through close collaboration with the Gallagher engineering team over the course of a two year engagement. The business driver behind this significant investment was the need not only to control code sprawl, and ensure any software delivered met Gallagher Security ironclad quality and security requirements, but also to reduce initial effort and ongoing toil associated with the management of multiple instances of the deployed software at different versions, across different infrastructure, and in different target configurations (based on end-customer).
Quality assurance through template-driven automation
One of the critical requirements for Gallagher was to have automated testing rigorously applied throughout the SDLC. We devised a test strategy supported by the template-driven automation that ensured the appropriate quality gates were applied to any newly created software components, and components could not be accidentally released without:- Unit test coverage
- Safe coding practices
- Continuous security as part of pipelines
- Software
- In-site contract-based (e.g. API) level
We also implemented measures supported by automation to mitigate potential sophisticated soft factor threats like industrial espionage, and/or state-sponsored actors.
Our people also provided a range of technology services from initial technology consultancy to help inform and define Gallagher cloud platform strategy and open source strategy for the redevelopment of the Gallagher Command Center product as a REST API-centric, cloud-native SaaS offering targeted to the physical security market. We assisted Gallagher in the design and delivery of REST APIs and associated API management and security infrastructure for the Gallagher Command Centre, award winning Mobile Connect app as well as the development of the Gallagher Fuel Systems cloud-based fuel distribution management system. All of these applications were built using an event-driven microservice architecture to deal with and react to fast moving data generated by the IoT components of the solution and to eliminate bottlenecks created by traditional, monolithic data silos. When security testing was carried out on the APIs, no issues requiring remediation were found.
We are committed to building enduring partnerships. I would like to express my gratitude and endorse the SECTION6 team, who has contributed significantly to supporting our teams in the development of a new cloud based product. SECTION6 have delivered significant value to our business and therefore we highly recommend them to prospective clients. We thank the team at SECTION6, and look forward to an ongoing business relationship.
/ Sir William Gallagher, CEO, Gallagher Group
