Migration & Modernization

Infomedia Modernizes Automotive Data Solutions with AWS

This post is co-written with Gowtham Dandu from Infomedia

Infomedia, an automotive data provider, needed to continuously improve their technology to stay competitive. This post explores how Infomedia leveraged the AWS Modernization Experience-Based Acceleration (ModAx) program, HAQM Q Developer services to migrate and modernize their on-premises solutions to cloud-native, multi-tenant deployments on the AWS platform.

The Existing On-Premises Solution

Infomedia provides data and software solutions for car manufacturers, dealerships, and partners worldwide. Over 250,000 automotive professionals in 186 countries use Infomedia’s products to manage vehicle and customer information. The company’s Infodrive analytics tool integrates with 43 different Dealership Management Systems, and delivers 33,500 reports daily to more than 8,000 dealerships, helping them improve customer service and boost sales.

Infodrive on-premises architecture

Figure 1 – Infodrive analytics solution on-premises architecture

Infomedia faced several opportunities to modernize its on-premises infrastructure to improve scalability and become more agile. The objective was to address these opportunities, improving service delivery, customer experience, and security.

Cloud-Native Transformation

Based on the identified challenges, Infomedia set out to achieve the following objectives using AWS cloud native features:

  1. Achieve a scalable deployment that serves multiple customers
  2. Enhance operational efficiencies
  3. Unlock growth opportunities
  4. Optimize infrastructure
  5. Enhance security and resilience of automotive data services

Infomedia partnered with AWS to develop a cloud-native architecture to meet their requirements and overcome on-premises limitations.

Infodrive AWS architecture

Figure 2: Infodrive AWS architecture

Additionally, the Infodrive team at Infomedia, responsible for this migration, aimed to enhance their AWS expertise. To support this and boost delivery velocity, the AWS team proposed the ModAx program.

Modernization Experience Based Acceleration (ModAx)

AWS Experience-Based Acceleration (EBA) forms the foundation of ModAx. This methodology helps teams modernize applications through assessment, enablement, and execution.

The Infomedia team and AWS jointly conducted the ModAx program over three days. Infomedia’s technology teams, including developers, architects, and key decision-makers, worked alongside AWS Solutions Architects, Migration & Modernization specialists, and service experts. Infomedia engaged with partners such as ThoughtWorks, New Relic, and CircleCI for in-person and virtual support during the ModAx program.

Before ModAx, the team held several educational sessions. These sessions clarified the target state and architecture, ensuring the build teams understood the AWS platform and relevant services such as: HAQM Relational Database Service (RDS), HAQM Elastic Container Service (ECS), and AWS CloudFormation.

The ModAx goals were:

  1. Deploy a production-ready Infodrive environment on AWS, with full Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) automation and observability.
  2. Onboard and upskill the Infodrive team to operate and build upon the new AWS deployments.

To achieve these goals, the team divided the work into three key workstreams:

  1. Infrastructure: This stream designed and implemented AWS infrastructure using Infrastructure as Code (IaC). The team achieved 100% IaC coverage using CloudFormation, enabling consistent and repeatable infrastructure deployments. Key AWS services and components included:
    1. HAQM Elastic Container Service (HAQM ECS)
    2. AWS Transfer Family
    3. HAQM Aurora MySQL
    4. Resource tagging
    5. Backup and disaster recovery
    6. Edge security services (HAQM CloudFront and AWS WAF)
    7. Lacework integration for container vulnerability management
  2. CI/CD: This stream automated deployments, upgrades, and migrations. The team implemented a fully automated CI/CD pipeline as shown in Figure X, streamlining Infomedia’s integration and deployment processes.

    Infodrive deployment pipeline

    Figure 3: Infodrive deployment pipeline

  3. Observability: Working with New Relic, this stream configured metrics and logs collection for both application and infrastructure. The team created dashboards, alarms, and notifications to monitor service health.

Security underpinned all three streams. The team assessed security implications for all changes, with AWS experts providing support. This approach integrated security throughout the project, from infrastructure design to CI/CD pipelines and observability configurations.

Outcomes and Advancements

Infomedia’s modernization efforts delivered significant improvements across key areas.

Deployment Time Reduced

Infomedia cut deployment time by 60% and feature deployment cycle time by 65%. The team now deploys new Infodrive versions in minutes instead of hours. They achieved this by implementing:

  • Repeatable builds
  • Standardized environments
  • A common deployment stack
  • Automated CI/CD pipelines
  • Streamlined approvals
  • Automated secret management

Enhanced Developer Experience

Infomedia’s developers used HAQM Q Developer to adapt their Java application for cloud-native architecture faster. The tool provided intelligent code suggestions that improved the team’s cloud skills and accelerated learning. By using HAQM Q Developer to explain code changes clearly, the team reduced code review time by 30%, enhancing workflow efficiency.

Faster Debugging

Infomedia reduced troubleshooting time from hours to minutes. They migrated manual log analysis and data operations with:

  • HAQM ECS Exec for rapid environment access
  • HAQM CloudWatch for centralized logging
  • HAQM Athena for quick log analysis

These tools helped the team improve vulnerability management, resolve issues across the entire stack more quickly, and enhance disaster recovery capabilities. The Infodrive developers planned, built, and deployed the cloud-native transformation themselves, with support from other experts. This hands-on work prepared the team for future success.

Conclusion

Infomedia’s project demonstrated the benefits of leveraging a range of AWS services and programs. By combining the structured approach of the AWS Experience Based Accelerator (EBA) with AI-powered tools like HAQM Q Developer, as well as services like HAQM ECS, HAQM Aurora, and HAQM CloudWatch, Infomedia was able to upgrade their applications, improve operational efficiency, and expand their customer service capabilities. The modernization process involved a target state assessment, team training, and a 3-day workshop with partners and stakeholders. This accelerated approach enabled Infomedia to upskill their team and implement the infrastructure, automation, and observability required for their cloud migration.

Additional Reading

Gowtham Dandu

Gowtham Dandu

Gowtham Dandu is an Engineering Lead at Infomedia Ltd with a passion for building efficient and effective solutions on the cloud, especially involving data, APIs, and modern SaaS applications. He specializes in building microservices and data platforms that are cost-effective and highly scalable.