About the Client
Bond Digital Health specialises in data management software for the medical sector. Its flagship product, Transform®, is used in conjunction with lateral flow and other rapid diagnostic tests, allowing results to be captured and analysed in real-time.
The company needed a secure, highly available cloud-based application to handle lateral flow test data. We built the application infrastructure from the ground up using the latest AWS technologies and services to maximise performance.
Challenge: Lateral Flow Test Application Required Cloud Engineering Expertise
Bond Digital Health’s data management platform, Transform®, processes lateral flow test results for conditions including Covid-19, HIV, Hepatitis C and Bovine TB, as well as associated patient data such as symptoms. The core platform software was developed in-house, but specialist expertise was required to build the infrastructure for a cloud-native application to deliver test data and reports to healthcare professionals and public health authorities.
Due to the sensitive nature of the data, security was paramount. The solution needed to be highly available, too, with adequate capacity to deal with millions of data points simultaneously. Bond Digital Health also wanted to ensure application updates and changes could be released in an automated way. A partner was needed to achieve these goals, so we were appointed to build the infrastructure on AWS before continuing in a cloud-managed services capacity.
“We knew that hosting the application dashboard on AWS was the best way forward, but we didn’t have the dedicated DevOps resource to get it set up exactly as we wanted. [This collaboration enabled us] to build a secure and reliable infrastructure that will allow us to scale over time.”
Russell Hicks
CTO, Bond Digital Health
Solution: Creating a Simple, Versatile AWS Environment
Our first task was to identify which AWS and third-party services would best meet the application’s needs. Compatibility with Bond Digital Health’s database was essential. Rightsizing was also a priority to ensure the technology could comfortably handle the application load without compromising cost efficiency. The final solution involved AWS Elastic Beanstalk, leveraging Amazon EC2, RDS and S3. We built a staging environment to test the set-up, then moved to a production environment.
Load balancers were used to access instances, all of which were non internet facing. To maximise security, we used AWS Web Application Firewall which acts as a filter before load balancers, monitoring all incoming traffic. We also took a methodical approach to setting permissions. This included making sure we were unable to ‘access object’ in certain buckets which contain sensitive information.
To automate the deployment strategy we used code pipeline, leveraging Terraform across the full environment. Source control is handled using AWS Code Commit and EC2 Auto Scaling groups ensure scalability inline with the application load.
This solution was ideal for Bond Digital Health’s needs due to its versatility combined with ease of use for people starting out with cloud infrastructure.
Outcome: Building Confidence in the Cloud
Bond Digital Health employs a highly skilled technical team, but building a cloud-based application was a new challenge. By working collaboratively, we’ve devised a solution that leverages cloud benefits to meet the strict requirements of digital healthcare products. We selected the most relevant and up-to-date technologies and services to ensure the application works effectively and cost-efficiently. Going forward, Bond Digital Health’s developers will be able to deploy changes quickly and securely. Our cloud-managed services team will work alongside them to drive continual improvement.
“Introducing advanced features such as infrastructure as code has allowed us to make more of our presence on AWS. It’s benefitted the application, and it’s also given our team the confidence to really embrace cloud.”
Russell Hicks
CTO, Bond Digital Health
This case study is based on work completed by DevOpsGroup before the team joined forces with Sourced Group, an Amdocs company.
