Resident Architect

The Resident Architect package provides a dedicated senior Illumio Professional Services resource assigned to the customer for a twelve-month engagement. The Resident Architect works alongside the customer's security and infrastructure teams to accelerate adoption, reduce operational risk, and provide continuous expertise across every phase of the Illumio deployment.

This engagement is designed for enterprise customers with complex environments, aggressive segmentation timelines, or high-value applications subject to complex regulatory requirements, the pace and quality of a segmentation program is often limited less by the platform than by the availability of deep Illumio expertise embedded within the customer's own team.

The Resident Architect provides that expertise directly, and is backed by access to Illumio subject matter experts across the broader portfolio — including containers, cloud, hybrid architectures, and compliance-driven segmentation. The engagement also supports complex transition scenarios, including takeout from other segmentation platforms and cutover from traditional firewall solutions deployed for east-west traffic control.

The engagement is available at full-time, half-time, or quarter-time allocation, allowing customers to match the level of embedded support to the scale and pace of their program.

Package Dependencies

• None

Strongly Recommended Packages

• Segmentation Bundle, or equivalent completion of Segmentation Strategy & Roadmap, Platform Foundation Deployment, Labeling, Discovery, Basic Policy – Core Services + Ransomware, and Ringfencing  

Optional Supporting Package

• Health check
• Exposure Report  

The Resident Architect may be purchased independently of any other package. Customers who have completed the Segmentation Bundle typically realize value more quickly, as the Resident Architect can focus on program acceleration and complex scenarios rather than foundational establishment.  

Technical Readiness

• Illumio licensing available
• Required physical and logical access provisioned for the Resident Architect
• Available workload metadata for in-scope servers, including hostname, IP addressing, and where available server role, application, environment, and location
• Available environment, network, and security architecture information  

Customer Readiness

• Executive sponsor identified
• Project manager or primary point of contact assigned Internal resources identified to coordinate with the Resident Architect
• Agreed engagement allocation (full-time, half-time, or quarter-time)
• Agreed start date and continuous engagement block
• Change-management process documented

Illumio Subject Matter Expertise and Program Support

• Provide senior subject matter expertise across the Illumio product portfolio.
• Provide access to Illumio subject matter experts across containers, cloud, hybrid architectures, and compliance-driven segmentation.
• Provide guidance on segmentation approach for complex environments and high-value applications, including regulated environments such as SWIFT and HIPAA.
• Assist with technical reviews and provide guidance on change preparation. Provide reports and metrics, and prepare and maintain project documentation.

Customer Outcome

Customer has embedded senior Illumio expertise with intimate knowledge of its deployment, supported by specialist expertise across the broader Illumio portfolio.

Platform Deployment and Operations

• Assist with deployment, troubleshooting, monitoring, and management of the Illumio deployment and product upgrades.
• Assist with installation and maintenance of the Policy Compute Engine.
• Assist with implementation of integrations such as Syslog/SIEM and Single Sign-On.
• Develop operations procedures and runbooks based on Illumio best practices, covering tasks such as PCE rebuild, upgrade, backup and restore, and cold standby PCE.
• Develop VEN deployment methodology using the customer's automation framework and applying Illumio best practices.
• Develop Illumio-specific API scripts to optimize services.

Customer Outcome

Customer receives custom operations documentation and deployment methodology informed by Illumio best practices, with efficient troubleshooting support that minimizes operational disruption.

Labeling and Policy Development

• Develop a labeling schema using the customer's metadata and applying Illumio best practices.
• Author Illumio policy based on a customer-defined framework, including core data center services, administrative access, egress traffic, IP lists, and multi-tenant workloads.
• Provide guidance on policy structure, quality, and maintainability.
• Support customer review of authored policy prior to provisioning.

Customer Outcome

Customer receives expert assistance on critical deployment efforts, including label design strategy and policy authoring, with policy prepared for customer review and approval.

Complex Transition and Migration Support

• Provide guidance and assistance on transition from other segmentation platforms.
• Provide guidance and assistance on cutover from traditional firewall solutions deployed for east-west traffic control.
• Provide guidance on segmentation approach across complex, hybrid, and multi-environment estates.

Customer Outcome

Customer is supported through complex platform transitions and architectural changes with dedicated expertise familiar with both the target state and the customer's specific environment.

The Resident Architect engagement runs for a term of up to twelve months from an agreed start date, scheduled as one continuous block.

The delivery schedule and work prioritization will be agreed between the customer's project manager and the Resident Architect at engagement initiation. Information and required data are expected to be made available in a timely manner to allow progress.

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