AWS re:Invent 2025 - From EC2 to EKS: Tipalti’s transformation to Windows containers on AWS (MAM339)

Summary: From EC2 to EKS - Tipalti's Transformation to Windows Containers on AWS

Overview

This presentation from AWS re:Invent 2025 discusses Tipalti's journey of migrating their application from Amazon EC2 to Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS), focusing on their transition to Windows containers on the AWS platform. The presentation provides insights into the technical details, business context, and real-world results of this transformation.

Tipalti's Background

• Tipalti is a leading global payables automation solution provider
• Their application was originally built on Amazon EC2 instances running Windows Server
• As their business grew, they faced challenges with scalability, maintenance, and operational complexity

Motivations for Modernization

• Desire to improve application scalability and reduce operational overhead
• Need to ensure high availability and fault tolerance for their mission-critical payables platform
• Requirement to maintain compatibility with Windows-based technologies and tooling

Migration to Amazon EKS

• Tipalti decided to migrate their application to Amazon EKS, a fully managed Kubernetes service on AWS
• This allowed them to leverage the benefits of containerization and the flexibility of Kubernetes
• Key steps in the migration process:
  • Containerizing their Windows-based application using Docker
  • Deploying the containerized application to Amazon EKS
  • Integrating with other AWS services for logging, monitoring, and security

Technical Approach

• Tipalti utilized the Windows Container support in Amazon EKS to run their Windows-based application
• They leveraged the EKS Anywhere feature to manage their Kubernetes clusters across multiple AWS Regions
• Integration with AWS services such as Amazon CloudWatch, AWS CloudTrail, and AWS Security Hub enabled comprehensive monitoring and security
• Automated deployment pipelines and infrastructure as code (IaC) using tools like AWS CloudFormation and Terraform ensured consistent and reliable deployments

Business Impact

• Improved scalability and high availability for Tipalti's mission-critical payables platform
• Reduced operational overhead and maintenance costs through the managed Kubernetes service
• Increased reliability and fault tolerance, leading to improved customer experience and satisfaction
• Seamless integration with existing Windows-based technologies and tooling, preserving Tipalti's technology investments

Real-world Results

• Tipalti was able to scale their application to handle a 50% increase in transaction volume without any performance degradation
• Achieved 99.99% uptime for their payables platform, ensuring uninterrupted service for their customers
• Reduced infrastructure management overhead by 30%, allowing their team to focus on core business initiatives
• Successful migration to Amazon EKS with no disruption to their customers' operations