eserv: Enhancing Digital Twin Technology Through AWS Migration and Best Practice

About eserv

eserv is a pioneering technology company based in Aberdeen, Scotland, operating worldwide in the energy and engineering sectors. Their flagship product, AS-TEG, is an innovative digital twin solution (take also a look at NVIDIA Digital Twin Solutions) that transforms remote site operations through advanced 3D data capture and analysis. AS-TEG helps organisations mitigate costly unplanned downtime, detect infrastructure issues early, and reduce onsite carbon footprints. The solution eliminates traditional photography and text reporting methods, replacing them with sophisticated digital monitoring and analysis capabilities. This technology has become particularly crucial as energy operators seek to optimise their operations while meeting increasingly stringent safety and environmental standards.

The Challenge

eserv is experiencing rapid growth, and recognised the need to further invest into their infrastructure to ensure the software platform could support their future expansion plans. Key objectives included:

• Scalability and Performance: eserv aimed to enhance the elasticity of their infrastructure, reducing manual effort and improving system performance as user and operational loads increased.
• Deployment and Architecture: The existing architecture required manual involvement in all deployments. To better serve a growing global client base, they needed a streamlined blue/green deployment capability, improving flexibility and reliability.
• Commercial and Analytics: eserv sought a solution for client-level usage-based billing, enabling more detailed metrics and data for monitoring SaaS platform performance and cost analysis.
• Access Control and Management: Improving capabilities for access control and permissions was essential to boost operational efficiency.

These challenges were particularly critical for eserv as a rapidly growing business in the energy sector. With increasing demand for their digital twin solutions and the need to serve a growing global client base, addressing these infrastructure limitations became crucial for maintaining their competitive edge and ensuring service reliability.

The Solution

Devoteam Consulting developed a strategic two-phase solution to establish a robust AWS foundation and enhance eserv’s AS-TEG platform.

AWS Landing Zone Implementation

Leveraging CloudBase, Devoteam implemented a best-practice AWS Landing Zone. This foundation provided:

• A secure, well-architected multi-account structure
• Standardised security controls and compliance frameworks
• Automated account provisioning and governance
• Streamlined access management and security policies

With this foundation in place, eserv was positioned to begin their AWS journey with confidence, built on proven best practices and architectural patterns.

AS-TEG Solution Migration and Enhancements

Building upon the secure Landing Zone foundation, Devoteam proceeded with the AWS Migration Acceleration Program (MAP) ‘Lite’ funded enhancements of the AS-TEG platform across three key areas:

Application and Development Infrastructure
The solution’s core was built around AWS Fargate ECS, providing scalable container management, complemented by Application Load Balancer for efficient traffic distribution. A robust CI/CD pipeline was established using CodeDeploy and CodeBuild, with ECR managing container registries. Lambda functions were implemented for serverless computing needs, creating a flexible and scalable application foundation.

Data and Storage Solutions
A comprehensive data management strategy was implemented using S3 for object storage, RDS Aurora for relational databases, and DynamoDB for NoSQL requirements. The solution incorporated AWS Backup and Datasync for reliable data protection and migration, while CloudFront and Route53 ensured efficient content delivery and DNS management.

Security, Monitoring and Operations
Security was paramount, with Secrets Manager, WAF, and KMS providing robust protection for credentials, web applications, and encryption keys. The platform’s operational health is continuously monitored through CloudWatch, with SNS and Chatbot enabling rapid response to system events and alerts. ACM ensures secure certificate management across the infrastructure.

The solution was implemented through close collaboration with eserv’s team, ensuring each component addressed specific business needs while maintaining security and performance standards. The AWS MAP Lite programme provided a structured approach to the migration, enabling a smooth transition from their existing infrastructure while optimising costs through programme funding.

Key AWS Services

AWS Fargate ECS • Application Load Balancer • CodeDeploy • CodeBuild • ECR • S3 • RDS Aurora • DynamoDB

The Benefits

The implementation of the AWS solution delivered transformative benefits that directly addressed eserv’s core challenges:

Enhanced Operational Capabilities:

• Automatic resource scaling to meet varying user demands, eliminating previous performance bottlenecks
• Zero-downtime releases and seamless hotfix deployment
• Improved system performance through component decoupling
• Enabled path to single-tenant deployment capabilities

Strategic Advantages:

• Future-proof scalability supporting eserv’s ambitious growth trajectory
• Comprehensive monitoring and analytics for data-driven decision making
• Optimised cost management through efficient resource utilisation
• Strengthened security posture with enterprise-grade controls

These improvements have positioned eserv to better serve their energy sector clients, accelerate their market growth, and continue delivering innovative digital twin solutions with confidence.