Database Modernization
SQL Server Licensing Costs: What You're Really Paying
Per-core pricing, ESUs, EA renewals — and the three realistic escape routes, priced honestly.
Read the guide →Resource Center
Answers, tools, and playbooks — not marketing.
Practitioner-grade resources for the decisions you're actually making: cutting database licensing, taming cloud bills, shipping AI that works. Every article ends with a next step — a tool, an assessment, or an architect.
01 — Blog
Field guides for expensive decisions
Long-form, zero-fluff articles on the problems with commercial intent — licensing, cost, accuracy, security, migration.
Database Modernization
SQL Server to PostgreSQL: A Realistic Roadmap
Compatibility assessment, wave planning, T-SQL conversion, and cutover — the sequencing that avoids the failure modes.
Read the guide →Data Platform Cost
Your Snowflake Bill Is Too High. Here's the Fix, in Order.
Auto-suspend, right-sizing, warehouse separation, and the serverless traps — the playbook that pays this billing cycle.
Read the guide →Data Platforms
Databricks vs. Snowflake: The Mid-Market Decision Guide
Total cost of ownership, workload fit, and team skills — the decision framework, not vendor talking points.
Read the guide →Agentic AI
RAG Accuracy in Production: Why Retrieval Quality Is the Whole Game
Chunking, hybrid search, reranking, ingestion SLAs, and evals — the fix list for RAG that worked in the demo.
Read the guide →Agentic AI
AI Agent Security: Shipping Agents Without the Breach
Prompt injection, least-privilege identities, data leakage, and the pre-production security gate.
Read the guide →Agentic AI
AI Governance for the Mid-Market
Risk tiers, the eight controls that matter, incident playbooks, and board reporting — without the 200-page policy.
Read the guide →Agentic AI
Hallucinations Are a Data Problem
Grounding, constrained generation, verification, and abstention — making LLMs trustworthy in the enterprise.
Read the guide →Data Platforms
Lakehouse Architecture: When It Beats a Warehouse
Open table formats, medallion discipline, migration waves, and the honest cost model — including when not to build one.
Read the guide →Data Engineering
Data Pipelines That Don't Wake You Up
Data contracts, quality gates, idempotent loads, and observability — reliability engineering for data teams.
Read the guide →Cloud Migration
Cloud Migration Costs: Budgeting Without Surprises
The six cost categories, the 6 Rs, and the five budget mistakes everyone makes — a budget your CFO will believe.
Read the guide →Application Modernization
Legacy App Modernization: The Playbook That Finishes
Strangler-fig extraction, .NET modernization paths, honest costing, and how to get past 70%.
Read the guide →02 — Guides
Deep-dive migration guides
Full reference guides for the two most common modernization paths.
Modernization Guide
SQL Server to PostgreSQL
The flagship migration guide: compatibility, conversion, and cutover in full detail.
Open the guide →Modernization Guide
Oracle to PostgreSQL
The second migration path: Oracle-specific conversion patterns and sequencing.
Open the guide →03 — Calculators
Put numbers on it
Interactive estimators. Honest ranges, stated assumptions, no quotes — estimates to start the conversation.
Calculator · Database
SQL Server License Savings Calculator
Cores, edition, renewal figure in — estimated 3-year savings range moving to PostgreSQL, with honest caveats.
Run the numbers →Calculator · Data Platform
Snowflake Cost Check
Credits, edition, and cost drivers in — your top savings levers ranked, with typical ranges.
Check your bill →04 — Free Toolkits
Packs: checklists, templates & worksheets
Free downloadable packs per topic — the working documents behind our assessments and articles.
Pack
SQL Server → PostgreSQL Pack
Compatibility checklist, wave-planning worksheet, cutover runbook template.
Get the pack →Pack
PostgreSQL Health Pack
Health-check queries, index review worksheet, vacuum and bloat checklist.
Get the pack →Pack
Agentic AI Pack
Agent security checklist, pre-production gate, red-team starter prompts.
Get the pack →Pack
Enterprise RAG Pack
Retrieval eval template, chunking decision guide, ingestion SLA worksheet.
Get the pack →Pack
AI Governance Pack
Risk-tiering worksheet, pre-deployment review template, inventory schema.
Get the pack →Pack
Data Lakehouse Pack
Medallion design checklist, table-maintenance runbook, format decision guide.
Get the pack →Pack
Databricks Pack
Platform evaluation scorecard, cost-model worksheet, cluster policy templates.
Get the pack →Pack
Snowflake Pack
Bill-audit checklist, warehouse sizing worksheet, renewal prep guide.
Get the pack →Pack
Cloud Migration Pack
6 Rs classification worksheet, estimation template, wave-planning board.
Get the pack →Pack
AI Workforce Pack
Human+AI team design canvas, role-mapping worksheet, operating-model template.
Get the pack →05 — Templates · 06 — Checklists
Working documents, ready to use
The discovery questionnaires and checklists our architects actually use — published as free PDFs.
Template · PDF
AI Discovery Questionnaire
The scoping document for AI engagements: use cases, data, constraints.
Download PDF →Template · PDF
Database Modernization Discovery
Estate inventory and compatibility scoping for migration assessments.
Download PDF →Checklist · PDF
Agentic AI Readiness Checklist
Use-case scoring, eval maturity, and oversight model — the pre-build gate.
Download PDF →07 — Assessments
Get scored before you spend
Structured assessments that tell you where you stand — before you commit budget to a build or a migration.
Assessment
AI Readiness
Where AI can actually pay off — and what has to be true in your data first.
Start the assessment →Assessment
Agentic AI Readiness
Use cases, eval maturity, security posture, and oversight model — scored.
Start the assessment →Assessment
Database Modernization
Compatibility, effort model, and cutover plan for SQL Server/Oracle → PostgreSQL.
Start the assessment →Assessment
PostgreSQL Health
Performance, indexing, vacuum, and configuration — a health check for your estate.
Start the assessment →Assessment
Data Platform Health
Cost, reliability, and architecture review for Snowflake, Databricks, and lakehouses.
Start the assessment →Assessment
Cloud Modernization
Application and infrastructure modernization scoping — waves, effort, sequencing.
Start the assessment →08 — Architecture Patterns · 09 — Labs · 10 — Downloads
The rest of the knowledge engine
Reference architectures we reuse in production, hands-on labs, and the download library.
Patterns
Architecture Patterns
Enterprise RAG, multi-agent systems, lakehouse foundations, database migration — the blueprints behind our builds.
Browse patterns →Insights
Insights & Field Notes
Opinionated takes from real builds — tradeoffs, failure modes, and what we'd do differently.
Read insights →Labs
Hands-On Labs
Guided exercises on our patterns and platforms — learn by building.
Explore labs →Downloads
Download Library
All free PDFs in one place: discovery kits, checklists, and questionnaires.
Browse downloads →Blueprints
Reference Blueprints
Illustrative solution blueprints — reference scenarios, not client engagements.
See blueprints →Academy
Corporate Training
Bootcamps in agentic AI, data engineering, and PostgreSQL migration — taught by practitioners.
View courses →11 — Proof · 12 — Blueprints
Proof: experience, structured honestly
Anonymized practitioner case studies — the experience informing our methodology — plus the illustrative solution blueprints they shaped. No invented numbers, no borrowed logos.
Practitioner experience
Proof: Case Studies
Four anonymized case studies — bank database modernization, healthcare RAG, telecom lakehouse, manufacturing AI agents — structured as engineering narratives.
Read the case studies →Case study · Modernization
Commercial Bank: SQL Server → PostgreSQL Program
A national commercial bank's migration program — discovery, compatibility scoring, wave planning, rehearsed cutovers.
Read the case study →Case study · Agentic AI
Healthcare Enterprise: Grounded Q&A
PHI-aware ingestion, per-user access control at retrieval, cited answers, eval-gated releases.
Read the case study →Case study · Data Platform
Telecom: Databricks Lakehouse Modernization
From legacy warehouse and mart sprawl to a governed lakehouse — medallion discipline, tiered freshness, cost observability.
Read the case study →Case study · Agentic AI
Manufacturing: AI Agent Pilot, Governed
A maintenance-diagnostics agent pilot — read-only tools, human-in-the-loop approvals, a governance gate before production data.
Read the case study →Blueprint · Reference Architecture
Migration Factory: 500 SQL Server DBs → PostgreSQL
The illustrative factory blueprint the bank program informed — discovery, scoring, automation, waves, cutover, rollback, assumptions stated.
Read the blueprint →Productized services
Fixed-scope engagements
Database migration assessment · PostgreSQL health check · AI readiness · Agentic AI discovery · RAG review · Databricks review · Snowflake cost review · Data platform health check · Cloud architecture review
Explore all →Start here
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