NUCLEUS: Modernisation with Shopify

NUCLEUS is AIC’s digital modernisation and system rescue initiative, designed to stabilise, recover and future-proof fragile or legacy software environments. Developed for William Wood Designs, NUCLEUS bridges traditional systems with modern digital ecosystems, including Shopify integration, refactoring, CI/CD and cloud-ready architecture.

Category

Commercial

Client

William Wood Designs

Services

Architecture, Refactoring, CI/CD, Shopify Integration, System Recovery, Modernisation, Technical Debt Reduction, Legacy System Rescue

Location

UK

Year

2022+

TRL

9

To stabilise, recover, and modernisemission-critical systems, addressing technical debt and improving software delivery.
NUCLEUS ensures that no system, however old or siloed, is beyond rescue.

Core Capabilities

  • System Discovery & Assessment, automated analysis of existing platforms, identifying risk areas, dependencies, and modernisation priorities.

  • Cloud & Hybrid Migration, structured re-hosting, re-platforming, or re-architecting into secureAzure, AWS, or on-prem hybrid environments.

  • Application Refactoring, AI-assisted code modernisation usingC#/.NET 9, containerisation, and microservice decomposition.

  • Data Rescue & Reintegration, forensic-grade data recovery, cleansing, and mapping into modern relational or NoSQL stores.

  • Cyber Resilience Layer, embeddedZero-Trust security, continuous vulnerability scanning, and automated compliance alignment.

  • Operational Continuity, blue-green deployment models and rollback protections to ensure uninterrupted business operations.

  • Governance & Reporting, full audit trail and digital twin of every modernised component for assured traceability.

Platform Architecture

Built on AIC’s clean-cloud foundation, NUCLEUS comprises several modular services:

Layer

Function

Key Technologies

Discovery Engine

System inventory, dependency mapping

Azure ARC, API introspection, OpenTelemetry

Migration Orchestrator

Automates migration workflows

Terraform, Bicep, Kubernetes Operators

Rescue Core

Data & app restoration

.NET 9, EF Core 8, MongoDB Atlas, Azure SQL

Integration Hub

Connects legacy and modern APIs

Message Bus, GraphQL, gRPC, REST bridge

Security Framework

Policy-driven access and compliance

AEGIS-ID Identity & Access Service, ISO 27001/NIST alignment

Monitoring & Insights

Real-time observability

Prometheus, Azure Monitor, Grafana Dashboards

Key Outcomes

  • Reduced technical debt through structured re-architecture.

  • Improved interoperability across legacy and modern systems.

  • Enhanced resilience through continuous security validation and backup automation.

  • Accelerated transformation via repeatable, automated pipelines.

  • Auditability and compliance built directly into every process.

Use Cases

  • Government & Defence: restoring secure systems where legacy platforms underpin operational capability.

  • Manufacturing & Energy: migrating control systems to modern, monitored environments.

  • Financial & Insurance Services: de-risking outdated databases and applications holding critical data.

  • Public Sector & Health: unifying multi-decade systems into compliant, cloud-ready architectures.

Strategic Value

NUCLEUS isn’t just a migration toolkit, it’s adigital command centre for renewal.
It empowers organisations to preserve what works, rebuild what’s needed, and retire what’s obsolete, all under the assurance of AIC’s defence-grade security and compliance frameworks.

By combining intelligent automation with human oversight, NUCLEUS transforms fragile, high-risk systems into resilient, adaptive platforms ready for the next decade of operations.

Other Projects

Explore More Projects