NASA SERVIR: Securing Earth Intelligence for 94 Institutions Across 40 Countries
NASA SERVIR: Securing Earth Intelligence for 94 Institutions Across 40 Countries
| CLIENTNASA / USAID (SERVIR) | ROLEPrimary Technical Resource | SERVICESCloud Migration / AWS / Security Hardening / Infrastructure Design / O&M Transition |
Highlights
- Served as the primary technical resource for the migration of the SERVIR platform, a joint NASA and USAID initiative, from a legacy hosting datacenter into the NASA-managed cloud environment on AWS
- Transitioned SERVIR datasets into Amazon S3 storage, improving data access for the end-user community while reducing costs for the SERVIR team
- Hardened security posture throughout the migration, bringing the environment to a standard that the legacy datacenter could not match
- Completed without service interruption to the 94-plus institutions across 40 partner countries that depend on SERVIR’s satellite Earth monitoring data
- Transitioned operations and maintenance to the prime contractor with full system documentation upon completion
Challenge
SERVIR is a joint initiative between NASA and the U.S. Agency for International Development that provides satellite-based Earth monitoring data, geospatial information, and analytical tools to help developing nations make better environmental decisions. The platform serves more than 94 institutions in 40 partner countries, many of which rely on SERVIR data to inform decisions affecting land use, water management, disaster response, and conservation in some of the world’s most ecologically complex regions.
The SERVIR team needed to migrate its web application servers to the NASA-managed cloud environment to gain cost and operational advantages over its legacy hosting infrastructure. The migration involved an ASP.NET content management system, a PostgreSQL database, and custom Linux-based dataset-processing applications, each with its own dependencies, data requirements, and security considerations.
The stakes of getting it wrong extended far beyond the SERVIR team. A platform failure during migration would disrupt data access for institutions that had integrated SERVIR into their operational workflows, particularly in countries where the infrastructure to quickly find alternative sources may not exist.
Action
As the primary technical resource for the migration, V! Studios executed the full transition of the SERVIR platform from the legacy hosting data center to Amazon Web Services.
The migration covered the primary ASP.NET CMS, the PostgreSQL database, and the custom Linux-based dataset-processing applications. SERVIR datasets were migrated to Amazon S3, improving international data access for the end-user community while significantly reducing storage costs for the SERVIR team.
Throughout the migration, V! Studios conducted design reviews and hardened security controls, working with NASA’s governance organizations and security contractors to bring the cloud environment to a stronger security posture than the legacy datacenter had supported. System documentation was written detailing how each application was provisioned in the cloud environment, providing the prime contractor with the reference material needed to take over operations and maintenance at the conclusion of the engagement.
The O&M transition was completed seamlesslycleanly, with V! Studios handing off a stable, documented, and fully operational cloud environment.
Result
The SERVIR platform transitioned to the cloud, resulting in improved performance, a stronger security posture, and substantially lower operating costs. The 94-plus institutions across 40 partner countries that depend on SERVIR data maintained access throughout the migration and emerged with a platform better equipped to serve them reliably at scale.
The move to Amazon S3 specifically improved international data access, giving partner institutions in developing nations a faster and more reliable path to the satellite monitoring data their environmental decision-making depends on.
| “Great job getting this in place. Congratulations to you all!”NASA SERVIR Project Manager |
ImpactWhy It Matters
SERVIR is not a domestic platform with domestic users. It is infrastructure used by developing nations to manage land, water, and ecosystems in real time. The people making decisions based on SERVIR data are not engineers who can route around a service disruption; they are environmental managers, policymakers, and field operators in countries where satellite Earth-monitoring data may be the most reliable source of ground truth.
Migrating a platform like this requires more than technical competence. It requires understanding what is at stake if the migration fails, designing the process accordingly, and executing without the margin for error that exists in lower-stakes environments. V! Studios brought the same standard to the SERVIR migration that it applies across all of its federal cloud work: improvedhardened security, clean documentation, zero service interruption, and a handoff that leaves the prime contractor with everything needed to operate the environment going forward.
SERVIR is yet anotherone of the clearest example ofs in V! Studios’ portfolio of technology work that materially improveshas everydayreal human lives through applied civilian scienceconsequences at the other end of the pipeline. That is the kind of work V! Studios is built for.