Lambert Labs partners with nonprofit organisations to help them leverage cloud technology for their specific needs. AWS provides a range of cloud-based services and solutions tailored to the nonprofit sector, and Lambert Labs has experience and expertise in delivering and supporting these solutions.
App containerisation and modernisation
Application containerisation and modernisation are two related concepts that are often used in the context of software development and deployment.
Containerisation is the process of packaging an application and its dependencies into a standardised container image. Containers are lightweight, portable, and can run consistently across different environments, such as development, testing, and production. At Lambert Labs, we use Docker as our containerisation platform. This allowed us to rapidly build a scalable web monitoring platform for Ballotpedia on AWS using Amazon Elastic Container Service.
A second common example of modernisation is using microservices which involves breaking down monolithic applications into smaller, loosely coupled services. This can improve scalability, agility, and maintainability.
Increasingly, modernisation also involves serverless technologies. Such technologies are well adapted to the initial prototyping / pilot phase as they allow for rapid iteration and low cloud computing costs based on pay as you go. They also scale well as your application and data grow. Lambert Labs made extensive use of AWS Batch to produce a data transformation pipeline for Bat Conservation Trust.
Such techniques help nonprofit organisations reach their potential, adapt to changing technology trends, and meet the evolving needs of their stakeholders, e.g. Lambert Labs partnered with Caribou Digital to build a data pipeline and visualisation solution for end customer Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth which allowed stakeholders to view dashboards reliably and securely.
Infrastructure as code – Terraform, CloudFormation
We use AWS CloudFormation and Terraform templates to automatically provision infrastructure in a reliable and repeatable manner. This means infrastructure can be rapidly deployed, modified, decommissioned and relocated. Further, as templates are not limited to any particular group of AWS services, our IaC expertise can be applied to whichever AWS services are used by your nonprofit organisation.
Managed services on AWS
At Lambert Labs we are strong advocates of using AWS managed services to make implementation smoother by delegating complex tasks to AWS. Rather than requiring engineers to learn the low level details on how to host and run a particular technology, the technology is consumed as a service in the AWS cloud.
This allows engineers to focus on product development rather than resource provisioning, configuration, and management.
Our extensive experience with AWS means we are adept at choosing the right managed service for your nonprofit organisation’s needs, e.g. we worked with Wag & Company to migrate their system from Amazon Lightsail to Amazon ECS and Amazon RDS.
AWS Organization configuration – IAM Identity Center and Control Tower
Nonprofit organisations can benefit from using AWS IAM Identity Center and AWS Control Tower in the following ways:
- Enhanced Security and Compliance: IAM Identity Center centralizes identity and access management, ensuring secure access to AWS resources. Control Tower enforces security and compliance best practices across AWS accounts.
- Cost Management: IAM Identity Center helps prevent unauthorized resource access, reducing unexpected expenses. Control Tower’s multi-account structure enhances cost control and visibility.
- Operational Efficiency: IAM Identity Center simplifies permissions management, reducing administrative overhead. Control Tower streamlines infrastructure setup for improved efficiency.
- Scalability: Both services can scale with nonprofit organisations’ growing AWS needs.
- Support and Resources: AWS provides support, credits, and training to assist nonprofits in utilizing these services effectively.
AWS Well-Architected Reviews
An AWS Well-Architected Review with Lambert Labs can help you ensure that your nonprofit organisation’s AWS environment is efficient, secure, and aligned with best practices, allowing you to get the most value out of your cloud investment while mitigating risks.