At BRYXX, our priority is to provide our customers with the best possible solution for their needs. That’s why we take a vendor-agnostic approach and avoid depending on any single technology provider. But that doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy collaborating with particular partners, and that’s definitely the case with HashiCorp.
Like most IT professionals, we first encountered HashiCorp through Vault and Terraform. Vault is a tool for centrally storing sensitive data such as API keys and passwords, while Terraform enables you to build, modify, and manage IT infrastructure using Infrastructure-as-Code. As we gained more experience with Vault and Terraform, we discovered that HashiCorp offers many more benefits too.
One of the key advantages is the sheer breadth of HashiCorp’s product stack, which enables us to create a complete platform engineering framework. HashiCorp offers everything you need to support the entire lifecycle of your IT infrastructure, from setup to securing the infrastructure, and everything in between. But HashiCorp’s appeal goes well beyond the breadth of the product stack alone.
Why have we been fans for years?
First and foremost, HashiCorp’s solutions are seriously powerful while remaining straightforward to use and maintain. HashiCorp Vault, for example, offers similar functionalities to CyberArk Digital Vault but is much simpler to use and manage. Similarly, Kubernetes or Red Hat OpenShift demand much more from the user than the simpler HashiCorp Nomad.
Consistency is another advantage: all HashiCorp tools are configured in the same HashiCorp Configuration Language, allowing you to set up new tools very quickly once you’re familiar with it. In addition, HashiCorp is completely tool- and platform-agnostic. This means it makes absolutely no difference whether you set up a deployment from HashiCorp in Microsoft Azure or on another cloud platform.
Open source and enterprise
At BRYXX, we aim to offer both open source and enterprise alternatives to the software we deploy for our clients. Until recently, with HashiCorp, we didn’t even have to switch tools to achieve this — you could switch with just a few clicks, without the need for a whole new installation.
Today, the open source version of Terraform is known as OpenTofu, while the open source version of Vault has been openBao. Both original tools remain source-available. Although you can no longer build your own products with them, the code itself remains freely available to use.
Direct access to technical expertise
Of course, all these benefits were music to our ears, so when BRYXX had the opportunity to become a HashiCorp partner five years ago, we jumped at the chance. This gave us comprehensive access to knowledge bases and technical support from HashiCorp. For example, we can call upon their specialists to help our clients not just with technical problems, but also with proof-of-concept development, among other things. The HashiCorp experts are always happy to join in the discussion.
We also help our clients secure the optimal number of licenses, an advantage you don’t get with a traditional “license shifter”. Moreover, as an official HashiCorp implementation partner, BRYXX can guarantee that your project is in good hands, because in the rare event that we need additional backup, we have a direct line to HashiCorp.
Last but not least, now that HashiCorp has been acquired by IBM, things are evolving behind the scenes. But what doesn’t change is BRYXX’s role as a trusted partner providing that crucial bridge between client and supplier.