Location iQ Case Study

Modernising Legacy Infrastructure with AWS

Background

Location iQ is an Australian data analytics and location intelligence company that helps organisations make better decisions through spatial and retail analytics. They provide geospatial insights to retail, government, and enterprise clients. Their revenue comes from a mix of consulting services, data subscriptions, and analytical reporting — helping customers understand where and how people interact with physical locations.

The Challenge

Location iQ’s on-premises Windows environment had reached end of life. Their existing Active Directory and file servers were inefficient to maintain, lacked simple scalability, and posed increasing reliability risks. They needed to modernise their IT foundation while ensuring continuity and data security were maintained.

Business Drivers

• Improve reliability and performance

• Reduce hardware maintenance overhead

• Enhance security and governance

• Enable future scalability and automation

• Support remote and hybrid work securely

Technical Needs

Location iQ required a complete re-architecture of their infrastructure to align with AWS best practices. This included:

1. A secure multi-account AWS environment with automated logging and cost controls

2. Replacement of on-prem Active Directory with AWS Managed Microsoft AD

3. Centralised cloud-based file storage Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP (FSxN)

4. Automated backup, monitoring, and security controls

The Solution

Habitat3 designed and deployed a modern AWS environment built for security, reliability, and scalability.

Key components included:

• AWS Landing Zone with VPCs, IAM guardrails, and centralised logging

• Managed Microsoft AD to replace legacy authentication systems

• Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP for centralised, high-performance file storage

• AWS Backup, CloudTrail, Config, and GuardDuty for visibility and compliance

• Cost management tools and anomaly detection to control spend

Access was enabled via a dual-VPN approach — a Site-to-Site VPN for office connectivity and a software-based VPN for remote users — ensuring seamless access to shared resources regardless of location.

What Made It Unique

This project represented a full end-to-end modernisation — migrating legacy Windows infrastructure to AWS-managed services while implementing automation, proactive monitoring, and cost optimisation from day one.

The dual-VPN configuration and hybrid access design created a flexible, secure foundation for both office-based and remote staff, improving business agility and user experience.

The Outcome

• Reliability: Resilient AWS-managed services replaced aging on-prem systems.

• Security: Strengthened identity, backup, and monitoring controls.

• Scalability: Multi-account architecture ready for future growth.

• Cost Efficiency: Reduced maintenance overhead and improved cost visibility.

• Simplicity: Habitat3’s managed services now support ongoing modernisation and continuous improvement.

  
  

“Migrating to AWS with Habitat3 has been a seamless process. We’ve moved from inefficient on-prem servers to a scalable cloud environment that just works. The Habitat3 team handled everything with precision, and AWS has given us the reliability and scalability we needed to focus on our analytics work instead of our infrastructure.”

— Hayden Armstrong, Associate Director, Location iQ

By migrating and modernising with AWS, Location iQ has eliminated the burden of on-prem maintenance, improved performance and governance, and created a platform ready for future innovation. With a modern AWS architecture and Habitat3’s ongoing Cloud Operations support, Location iQ can now focus fully on delivering advanced analytics and insights to its customers — backed by the reliability and agility of AWS.

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