LiveWyer Platform Delivery - Kubernetes Platform Build

K3 Business Technology Group now has a production Kubernetes Platform, designed, built and supported by LiveWyer

Key Results
  • Comprehensive Kubernetes platform for hosting applications

    Built a Kubernetes Platform which held the Imagine and Dataswitch applications, hosting multiple services.

  • Seamless CI/CD integration accelerates service development

    A custom-built library that integrates Jenkins CI/CD builds with Kubernetes drives the new service development velocity.

  • Enterprise-grade observability stacks

    Developed production-grade observability stacks (logging, monitoring and service mesh).

  • Trusted at scale

    LiveWyer scaled the Platform from 20 up to 130 microservices.

Intro

LiveWyer began playing a crucial role in developing and managing two significant projects: K3 Imagine, a greenfield retail commerce solution, and K3 Dataswitch, a greenfield systems integrator and data processing platform. These collaborations showcase LiveWyer’s expertise in building and maintaining complex, custom-built Kubernetes-based infrastructure and their ability to scale and evolve in response to the demands of both clients and the broader tech landscape.

Challenges

K3 Imagine, a greenfield retail commerce solution focusing on point-of-service systems, and K3 Dataswitch, a greenfield systems integrator and data processing platform, faced significant technical challenges during their early development phases. Their in-house Managed Service Provider (MSP) needed to gain the expertise to build and maintain a container-based platform infrastructure. Recognising the critical need for a specialised partner, K3 turned to LiveWyer for assistance in building a Proof of Concept (PoC) for their platform infrastructure.

Solutions

Cloud Platform Proof of Concept

LiveWyer’s first step was to design and deploy a Kubernetes-based infrastructure on-premise using vSphere. This infrastructure was designed and tailored to support K3 Imagine’s greenfield retail commerce solution. LiveWyer introduced a Jenkins-based CI/CD build system to accelerate development, which incorporated best-practice GitOps principles. This system allowed K3 to streamline the development and deployment of their microservices, ensuring faster iteration and progress.

Following the success of the initial PoC, LiveWyer’s role expanded, evolving the PoC into a full-fledged production platform. When we started, Kubernetes cluster management tools like Cluster API, Rancher, and Tanzu were not widely available. To meet the demands of K3 Imagine’s growing platform, LiveWyer developed an in-house solution that automated the end-to-end builds of new Kubernetes clusters and nodes in vSphere on-premise. This solution allowed the company to scale rapidly while ensuring operational efficiency.

Cloud Platform Support

In addition to platform development, LiveWyer took responsibility for the infrastructure’s day-to-day operations. This included managing the platform, overseeing the CI/CD build system, and ensuring high availability and performance through production-grade observability tools. LiveWyer provided comprehensive support for the platform’s operational health by deploying logging, monitoring, and service mesh solutions.

130+

Microservices

30+

Daily deployments

0

Downtime

Results

LiveWyer’s involvement allowed K3 Imagine and K3 Dataswitch to grow their platforms from early-stage development to mature, fully operational products. The tailored infrastructure and ongoing operational support ensured that both platforms could scale efficiently and meet the demands of their growing user base.

Conclusion

The partnership between LiveWyer and K3 proved essential to the success of both projects. LiveWyer’s deep technical expertise in Kubernetes, CI/CD, and infrastructure management enabled K3 to overcome significant technical challenges and accelerate the growth and maturity of their platform.

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