Case Study
Kubota — Cloud Migration and Application Modernization from IBM On-Prem to Azure
Kubota Tractor Corporation
Role
Cloud Solutions Architect & Application Modernization Lead
Period
November 2016 – September 2020
Duration
~4 years
Reporting Line
CIO (Ron Anderson, then Tim Garfield)
Industry
Agricultural & Industrial Equipment Manufacturing
Location
Grapevine, TX (US subsidiary of Kubota Corporation, Japan)
“Ken was the thought leader and primary driving influence behind the introduction of cloud-based computing, and Agile project management, development and implementation methodologies, into a previously very conservative IT environment built upon on premise server/hosting and waterfall approaches.”
The Situation
Kubota Tractor Corporation — the US subsidiary of Kubota Corporation — had relocated headquarters from California to Grapevine, Texas. They were running on legacy IBM on-premises infrastructure with a small internal development team and a deeply conservative, waterfall-driven IT culture.
The mandate: move out of IBM facilities to Microsoft Azure for cost savings and faster time-to-market, then modernize the internally-built custom Java stack toward cloud-native architecture.
Why Bring Me In
Kubota needed a cloud architect who would design the migration, modernize the applications, and build the CI/CD and platform foundations — not a temporary executive seat. Multi-year IBM → Azure transformation, zero-downtime SAP cutover, and microservices/serverless patterns required hands-on architecture and delivery.
What I Built
- •
Architected the IBM → Azure migration. Phased strategy covering workload categorization (rehost / refactor / rearchitect), multi-region Azure with availability zones, ExpressRoute connectivity, and hub-and-spoke networking.
- •
Led the SAP ECC → Azure migration with zero downtime. Designed the cutover architecture and prepared the platform for subsequent S/4HANA modernization.
- •
Modernized applications to microservices and serverless. Transformed monoliths onto AKS and Azure Functions (Node.js/TypeScript patterns), with Azure API Management for service governance and event-driven integration.
- •
Built the CI/CD and platform foundation. Azure DevOps pipelines integrating Jenkins, Chef, and JFrog Artifactory — automated testing, environment promotion, blue-green patterns. Deployments moved from monthly to weekly.
- •
Designed data and observability architecture. Migration patterns for Oracle DB, IBM DB2, and MongoDB. Centralized logging and monitoring with the ELK stack — aggregation, Kibana dashboards, and alerting for operational visibility.
- •
Established IaC and security baselines. Chef for configuration management, ARM templates for provisioning, NSGs / ASGs / Azure Firewall, and Azure AD SSO for unified identity.
Business Outcomes
- •
Zero-downtime SAP ECC → Azure migration
- •
100% performance improvement on modernized applications
- •
30% infrastructure cost reduction through cloud migration and modernization
- •
Deployment frequency from monthly to weekly via CI/CD automation
- •
60% delivery velocity improvement through Agile practices and automated pipelines
What I Left Behind
- •
A production multi-region Azure environment running mission-critical SAP and custom applications
- •
Microservices and serverless patterns the engineering teams could extend
- •
CI/CD pipelines, artifact governance, and ELK observability the ops team could run
- •
Documented architecture and operating model handed off to permanent leadership
What They Said
“Ken and I worked together on a daily basis at Kubota Tractor Corporation in Grapevine, TX from February 2017 through December 2018. Throughout that time Ken was the thought leader and primary driving influence behind the introduction of cloud-based computing, and Agile project management, development and implementation methodologies, into a previously very conservative IT environment built upon on premise server/hosting and waterfall approaches. Ken is a high-level performer and producer, and a consummate professional. He has deep expertise in current, leading technologies in the IT industry and would be a valuable addition to any IT organization.”
“Ken is one of the best technology professionals I've ever worked with. He not only possesses a depth and breadth of knowledge about technology that few have, but he also is a strong leader of people who demonstrates a willingness and ability to assist others to become better. It was my distinct pleasure to work with Ken and I can confidently say he would be a strong addition to any IT organization.”
“As a project manager for SAP HANA (on Azure) migration, I worked with Ken during the SAP HANA migration project. As an Azure SME, Ken was timely in Azure environment delivery and proactive in issue resolution. He is a great team player and helped in hitting some very tight timelines and in delivering a stable environment. Ken is an experienced cloud architect and a project manager and has also recently lead best practices establishment session for S/4 HANA on Azure project.”
“Ken is an outstanding multi-talented DevOps professional. He has sophisticated understanding of programming as well as Cloud computing experience. With his can-do attitude, responsibility, and responsiveness — he would make a valuable asset to any organization.”