Strategic GCP to OCI Migration for a Cybersecurity Giant

Background

Our Client is a titan in the cybersecurity space. Their AI-driven endpoint protection platform is built to stop advanced cyberattacks in real-time. A cornerstone of their ecosystem is the Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) system – a high-stakes environment responsible for continuous monitoring and investigation of suspicious activities across millions of customer devices.

For years, Client's entire infrastructure lived on Google Cloud Platform (GCP). However, as the company scaled, so did the complexity and cost of their cloud footprint. With annual GCP bills reaching into the significant amount in millions of dollars and performance bottlenecks emerging, the business reached a crossroads.

Company's projections revealed that Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) would offer a more cost-effective environment for the same amount of resources. This led to a strategic business decision: migrate the entire system to OCI to maximize cost-efficiency and operational performance.

Having partnered closely with the Client since 2024, SoftwareMill took on the challenge to help migrate a significant part of the EDR (endpoint detection and response) system. Because we have been developing it for a year and remain accountable for its daily performance, we were uniquely positioned to ensure a safe and successful transition.

Challenges

Migrating a platform of this magnitude isn't a simple "copy-paste" job. Every cloud provider has its own DNA, and the shift from GCP to OCI presented two primary technical hurdles:

1. Fundamental architectural differences – we had to bridge the gap between GCP’s "Project" based structure and OCI’s "Compartment" logic. This required a complete rethink of resource isolation and security hierarchies.

2. The permissions systems and APIs between the two providers are entirely different, requiring us to map them thoroughly and adjust cloud resource access policies, network security rules, and then test these changes continuously.

Solution

Our first task was to create a toolset to transfer the platform from one cloud to another in the most optimal way and without disturbing the operating system. We started with thorough research on the equivalents of GPC resources and services in OCI and familiarized ourselves with the nuances of the Oracle cloud.

To address the issue of differences between clouds, we rewrote the internal toolset for managing the infrastructure and created a compartment structure that did not exist in GCP (which uses projects). A compartment is a logical container used to organize and isolate cloud resources. We then deployed fresh production environments in OCI and migrated customers one by one, ensuring stability and verifying integrity at every step.

Moreover, our team proposed and implemented architectural improvements that reduced technical debt during migration. This allowed the system to run on fewer resources than originally projected, compounding substantial savings for the client.

Results

First of all, we contributed to migrating a very large system between clouds, which was our main task, and took about six months. The migration was a resounding success.

As a result, the stability, performance, and cost-effectiveness of the systems improved – everything in Oracle simply works, and this has been confirmed by Client’s operation team.

The long-term result? By moving the entire system to OCI and optimizing the architecture, the company slashed their annual cloud spend by over a half! With a more logical resource structure and lower overhead, they are now positioned to scale their AI-driven protection without the friction of runaway costs.

Wish to migrate your system or platform to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure? Our team of battle-hardened experts is waiting to help you.