Datex debuts flexible supply chain software based on the Azure Stack and Azure Integration Services

The management of logistics

Warehouse logistics are vital in our modern consumer environment, but they’re easy to overlook. The flow of goods to and from warehouses may seem like a simple process, but when dealing with everything from pharmaceuticals to clothing, a lot of complexities emerge. Data like expiration dates for perishables, storage locations for seasonal goods, and regular incoming orders all need to be tracked. Datex has worked to address those complexities over its four decades of operation.

Datex provides clients around the world with supply chain software, managed services, and mobile solutions for warehouses. Its goal is to enable customers to take charge of their supply chain and data while providing managed solutions for back-end services. For decades, it has operated as an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) company. Datex used Microsoft SQL Server with the BizTalk adapter to handle the complex back end necessary for efficient warehouse operations such as managing data, providing notifications about important upcoming events and status changes, and reconciliation of outgoing orders with incoming ones.

With this IaaS structure, Datex was able to build strong relationships with its customers and develop bespoke integrations for various software, but this solution was not ideal. Integration was a difficult task when dealing with a range of customers who all required tracking of different data. Developing new apps or specialized integrations for existing apps was both labor-intensive and costly. The database couldn’t easily scale naturally, resulting in scaling up or down based on customer activity becoming an extra workload.

To transform to a more modern Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) stance, Datex needed a system that had security, scalability, and customization available right from the start. The idea was to use a central integration platform and system to build the back-end infrastructure that could support a robust set of integrations between data sources. The Datex team lead by Chief Technology Officer, Derek Armanious, built the new platform called Wavelength. It provides all these functions from a foundation built on the Azure Stack including Azure Integration Services from Microsoft.

Building on flexible foundations

Datex has long been recognized as a gold partner to Microsoft. Making a big shift in technology provided Datex with an opportunity to change. Datex saw it as an investment in the existing partnership. “If we’re going to bet on a technology provider, who would it be?” Kesiraju explains. “The Azure technology stack is scalable and reliable, and our development team is comfortable in the tech stack.”

Datex built Wavelength on the Microsoft technology stack, and the back-end services are powered by Azure and Azure Integration Services. At the core of Wavelength is a powerful and configurable system that allows each customer to define what data they require, a proactive solution to avoid application data silos. With Azure Integration Services, Datex was able to build flexibility and customization into Wavelength so customers can efficiently decide on relevant information and collect only that data.

“Customers have different rules based on their industry and way of managing their inventory life cycle,” says Kesiraju. Wavelength is a comprehensive system that manages data intake and processing through Azure Integration Services. Customers have the flexibility to onboard new partners and manage existing intake processes without impacting business processes. Instead, they can build specific solutions for their industry and business needs. Customers can integrate with disparate systems within and outside of their ecosystem with Wavelength via API functionality powered through Azure API Management, and customers can build separate applications for tracking new information as their requirements change.

Data collected through the front-end software goes through Azure Logic Apps, which makes up the backbone of the electronic data integration (EDI) process. Logic Apps provide a clear picture of how the information moves through the system, a major benefit to the team building Wavelength. “Having an orchestration tool is helpful,” Kesiraju explains. “Logic Apps also gives us the capability to visualize the flow of information and re-work it as necessary.”

Logic Apps has also helped the Datex team to be faster in bringing solutions to the market. The tool provides a clear flow chart for information, and from there the team can easily grasp any necessary changes and iterate smoothly. According to Kesiraju, deployment and changes work in “almost real time,” improving the environment for customers behind the scenes.

Speed and visualization

By accelerating the time to market and working in a low-code environment, Datex can shift quickly to meet customer needs. “With Logic Apps, we are able to quickly mockup business processes before implementation, improving alignment and speeding up time to market” says Kesiraju.

Wavelength uses Azure Functions behind the various API calls, creating what are in practical terms atomic services. Having the power to call specific functions and event-based execution empowers Datex to have more flexibility on the back end. It also provides specific benefits that were not available to Datex developers in the previous solution. Having everything tie into Azure Event Grid as well helps to standardize how data is collected even for diverse customers, and it means that each piece of data can be treated appropriately via set rules.

The back-end integrations run through Azure Integration Services, and the front-end customer applications are built with the in-house Wavelength low-code designer platform. Moreover, data visualization tools like Power BI are available directly to customers and do not have to be custom built by Datex. The processing available on the cloud servers makes it easy for users to generate reports tracking product demand, lifecycles, and even warehouse efficiency on short notice. It provides customers with more insight into their own warehouse operations and also frees up the Datex team by requiring less workload management.

The structure of the new system also enhances security and processing time. Azure Service Bus coupled with Azure Container Instances and Azure Container Apps addresses many workload issues, as it runs important processes separately in an isolated environment to keep important loads running in parallel.

“Embracing containerization and leveraging Azure Container Instances and Azure Kubernetes Service has been a game changer across our engineering team, giving us greatly simplified build pipelines and a massive jump in capabilities when it comes to deployment, security, scalability, and isolation,” says Bryan Batchelder, VP of Product at Datex. “In fact, when you build an app on Wavelength, the end result is a containerized app that is deployed as an Azure Container App which can scale up to hundreds of instances or all the way down to zero. The cost savings are unparalleled.”

Datex APIs also connect to strictly separate batches of data for each company through the server management of Azure Integration Services. This cuts down on potential accidental data breaches and improves overall operational integrity. Everything is kept secure and partitioned, and APIs prevent users from accessing data that should be hidden.

Last, but certainly not least, many solutions customers need can be built by the customers themselves, and the app studio gives customers the flexibility and freedom to develop. When Datex needs to step in, the development team can be confident that they are addressing larger problems that require specific attention rather than routine issues. “Our new enterprise low-code application platform has been a game changer for the supply chain space. Logistics providers now have the autonomy to create immediate solutions that provide efficiencies and value to their organization and customers,” says Armanious.

The live service experience

Initially, Wavelength was given to a group of five early adoption customers. “Our customers were pleasantly surprised with the intuitiveness of the cloud solution. With a limited amount of training, our users have been able to understand and use the application seamlessly,” says Kesiraju.

With BizTalk Server, the integrations were complicated and required significant development effort. “BizTalk is an incredibly powerful platform, but Microsoft has taken the best parts of it and put it in Azure as Logic Apps and Integration Services,” says Batchelder. “In this new environment, not only is development effort slashed, but the costs of maintaining a fleet of BizTalk servers is entirely eliminated.”

With the power, scalability, and flexibility of Azure Integration Services, the integration story for Datex is simplified. Kesiraju, however, sees the real success story of Wavelength being about empowering customers to do more. “Customers now have a fully immersive end-to-end experience through the new platform,” he explains. “Wavelength as a unified SaaS platform enables logistics providers to create feature-rich applications by connecting disparate systems and composing interfaces in a user-friendly low-code studio.”

Datex is focused on placing power in the hands of its users while offering solid guidance on building the best solutions. “This system lets our customers build solutions that are targeted to their custom business needs,” says Kesiraju. He feels strongly that this change is a vital shift in framing. “Customers now benefit from a fully captivating experience. Our all-in-one platform offers the ability to connect, create, and oversee their tailored warehouse management solution. We empower our clients with a secure platform that ensures complete visibility from beginning to end, made possible by the Azure Stack and Azure Integration Services.”

Migration to power

Datex is already adding new features such as AI integration, as the AI modeling available as part of the data analytics platform helps figure out inefficiencies within a given warehouse flow. There will no doubt be more calls for further integration as the platform rolls out to more customers, providing greater insight into the data of any given warehouse. But the team’s focus is on rolling out the features steadily over time to improve reliability, implement guardrails, and make sure that any issues are taken care of earlier in development.

Datex is also still rolling out additional functionality on Azure Integration Services. While the company’s use of Azure API Management is still in its infancy, the management service is already accustomed to making sure that API versions are kept up-to-date and standardized. This will help with geo-redundancy moving forward and means that the correct APIs are called for all future integrations.

About 15 Datex customers are fully operational on the new system at present. The benefit of the transition to the new server structure is that it’s possible to keep running the old database structure. From a customer’s perspective, no lengthy and expensive migration is required. As more customers move onto the system, Datex is also capable of offering more to larger customers due to the scalability of the new solution.

“We’ve always been an enterprise service provider,” says Kesiraju. “We specialized in providing the best service to our small- to mid-sized customers, but the scalability options we have now allow us to scale up to help mid-market and larger enterprises manage their warehouses.” The migration to this new system has provided additional options far beyond what Datex could accomplish with its previous back end.

Datex is using the tools available with Azure Integration Services to transform itself effectively into providing SaaS and empowering its customers with increased scalability and reliability at all levels of operation. As Kesiraju puts it, “What we are building will help our customers do more than they ever could before, with increased options and security.”

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