Nuix’s Cloud Migration Journey: Cutting Costs, Reducing Technical Debt, and Scaling with AWS

When infrastructure sprawls across multiple environments, technical debt grows quietly in the background; driving up costs, slowing down teams, and making every change harder to implement. Many mid-sized and enterprise businesses face this challenge: legacy systems that were once “fit for purpose” now block progress, especially when agility, security, and standardisation are essential to staying competitive.

Modernisation isn’t just about moving to the cloud. It’s about building a foundation that can adapt, scale, and deliver value fast. This is what Nuix proved when they took control of their infrastructure, reduced waste, and laid the groundwork for growth.

About Nuix: Global Investigative Analytics Software Provider

Nuix provides investigative analytics and intelligence software that helps customers uncover insights in complex, unstructured data. Their solutions are trusted by government agencies, law enforcement, legal firms, and corporations around the world to tackle use cases like digital forensics, regulatory compliance, data privacy, and insider threat detection.

Headquartered in Sydney, with operations across APAC, North America, and EMEA, Nuix supports a global client base. Its internal infrastructure supports software development, testing, and delivery – making reliability, speed, and flexibility critical to the business. Without modernisation, these systems risked becoming less efficient and harder to scale, leading to higher internal operating costs and technical debt. 

A Strategic Opportunity to Reduce Complexity and Technical Debt

Nuix had expanded rapidly through multiple acquisitions. Over time, this growth led to a complex mix of internal infrastructure across on-premises data centers in Australia and US. To support its cloud-first product strategy and drive greater efficiency, Nuix set out to simplify and modernise this environment, reducing duplication and aligning its systems for future scale.

Key challenges included:

• Distributed Infrastructure: A globally scattered footprint made operations complex and expensive to manage.
• Technical Debt: Driven by years of growth through multiple acquisitions, layers of infrastructure had built up over time, creating duplication and inconsistent standards.
• Platform Standardisation: Testing and development environments needed to reflect production realities to improve delivery speed and product quality.
• Security & Cost Pressure: Nuix needed to reduce spend and simplify security across its environments to meet customer and regulatory demands.

The DNX-Nuix Partnership

Nuix engaged DNX Solutions to help modernise its infrastructure with AWS, not just to migrate workloads, but to streamline, secure, and future-proof its entire platform strategy. Recognising the importance of this transformation, Nuix chose DNX as a trusted partner with the expertise to deliver a seamless migration to AWS.

DNX proposed a phased migration strategy aligned with the AWS Migration Acceleration Program (MAP). The goal was to reduce operational complexity, lower infrastructure costs, and create a more scalable foundation for modern application delivery and future AI integration.

Mobilisation Phase

The first phase focused on establishing technical readiness and validating the migration plan through controlled pilot activities. DNX worked side-by-side with Nuix to:

• Review and validate AWS landing zones to ensure alignment with AWS best practices and security requirements.
• Design a migration strategy tailored to Nuix’s unique environment, including both lift-and-shift and replatforming elements.
• Run a pilot to test migration patterns, tools, and internal readiness.
• Develop repeatable migration patterns that could be used in future phases to ensure consistency, speed, and reduced risk.

Planned Execution Strategy

Following the success of the mobilisation phase, the broader migration plan was shaped around the following components:

• Rehosting VMware-based workloads from Nuix’s data centers to Amazon EC2 using AWS MGN. This like-for-like migration approach allowed for a seamless move while preserving application behavior and minimising disruption.
• Replatforming Docker environments onto Amazon ECS, setting the stage for more flexible and efficient container management.
• Modernising Windows Desktop OS instances by migrating them to Amazon Workspaces, enabling scalable, cloud-native virtual desktop infrastructure.
• Retiring or decommissioning legacy servers that were no longer fit for purpose, directly reducing technical debt and operational overhead.

Modern Cloud Outcomes: Enabling Scalability, Efficiency, and Long-Term Agility

The Nuix migration was designed to unlock long-term transformation: technically, operationally, and strategically. Nuix led the shift to a modern, cloud-native architecture, with DNX providing specialised support to help streamline and accelerate delivery cycles, lower operational costs, and unlock AI-driven innovation.

DNX guided Nuix in adopting:

• Serverless compute patterns using AWS Lambda: reducing reliance on static infrastructure and enabling dynamic, scalable workloads.
• Microservices architecture with Amazon ECS: laying the foundation for modular, containerised development. Nuix continues its evolution from containerised development to a flexible, microservices-driven environment.
• Modern ways of working, including initial integrations that support automated documentation and development workflows: freeing up teams to focus on value-adding work and improving productivity.

By executing its modernisation strategy, Nuix is now positioned to focus on:

• Improve platform reliability, with fewer points of failure and easier recovery.
• Streamline operations, through automation and simplified management of workloads and environments.
• Lay the groundwork for AI and analytics-driven enhancements, with cloud services that support experimentation and integration over time.

Rather than focusing on short-term gains, Nuix invested in a future-ready architecture, one that can evolve as the company grows and customer expectations shift.

Looking Ahead

This wasn’t just a technology upgrade for Nuix, it was a strategic shift. With DNX and AWS, Nuix has built a platform that supports innovation without increasing risk. AI adoption is now in active development, with modern practices being leveraged to enhance productivity and streamline development workflows.

With the migration now complete, Nuix is operating on a modern, scalable infrastructure that aligns with its SaaS strategy and long-term business goals. The company is well-positioned to adapt quickly, deliver faster, and serve global customers with greater consistency and confidence.