Case Study
Kubota — Modernizing Legacy Applications and Accelerating Product Delivery
Kubota Tractor Corporation
Role
Application Modernization & Platform Engineering 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 Problem
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 was broader than moving infrastructure: modernize the internally built Java application estate, introduce API-first and event-driven patterns, automate delivery, and give the engineering team a faster, safer way to release software.
Why It Mattered
Kubota needed an application modernization and platform engineering lead who could work across legacy Java systems, Node.js/TypeScript services, APIs, data, CI/CD, and the Azure runtime supporting them. The measure of success was not simply moving servers; it was improving application performance and delivery speed without disrupting the business.
What Ken Did
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Modernized applications to microservices and serverless. Transformed monolithic applications using Java, Node.js/TypeScript, AKS, and Azure Functions, with API Management for service governance and event-driven integration.
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Built the CI/CD and product-delivery foundation. Created Azure DevOps pipelines integrating automated testing, Jenkins, Chef, and JFrog Artifactory. Standardized environment promotion and blue-green patterns, moving releases from monthly to weekly.
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Designed data and observability patterns. Established modernization paths for Oracle DB, IBM DB2, and MongoDB, plus centralized ELK logging, Kibana dashboards, and alerting that made application behavior visible to the operating team.
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Delivered the runtime modernization. Designed the phased IBM-to-Azure transition, including workload categorization, multi-region architecture, ExpressRoute connectivity, and reusable security and provisioning baselines.
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Led the SAP ECC cutover with zero downtime. Designed the transition into Azure without interrupting the business and prepared the platform for subsequent S/4HANA modernization.
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Established IaC and security baselines. Chef for configuration management, ARM templates for provisioning, NSGs / ASGs / Azure Firewall, and Azure AD SSO for unified identity.
What Changed
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Zero-downtime SAP ECC → Azure migration
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100% performance improvement on modernized applications
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30% infrastructure cost reduction through cloud migration and modernization
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Deployment frequency from monthly to weekly via CI/CD automation
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60% delivery velocity improvement through Agile practices and automated pipelines
What Continued Afterward
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A production multi-region Azure environment running mission-critical SAP and custom applications
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Microservices and serverless patterns the engineering teams could extend
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CI/CD pipelines, artifact governance, and ELK observability the ops team could run
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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.”
Tools Behind the Work
Need a legacy application estate modernized without disrupting the business?
Bring the business problem or contract requirement. We can discuss what needs to change, what the work requires, and whether my experience fits.