About
The publishing and advisory home of AI and IT.
Johann Darby is the IT administrator, technical writer, and author behind Localis. He works in Marysville, Washington, and has spent his career inside large to small IT shops. The handbook is written for people like him, with a focus on service desk through architecture, modernization through compliance, grounded method through experience. Localis was founded as the publishing and advisory home for that work.
Outside the handbook, Johann writes the Vagabond Life trilogy — science fiction published under the same name. Long-form writing in two registers, technical and narrative, has shaped the prose discipline which the handbook applies.
Built for the IT administrator in the AI era
The modern IT administrator faces a landscape that existing playbooks were not written for. AI infrastructure, cloud governance, compliance overhead, and vendor lock-in decisions arrive faster than the industry can document them.
Localis exists to close that gap — with a working reference, practical instruments, and direct advisory access for the organizations that need it.
It administrators & infrastructure leads
Responsible for compute, cloud, and governance decisions in organizations where AI is already a reality.
Small & mid-size businesses
Organizations that depend on good infrastructure decisions but do not have a dedicated enterprise IT team.
Technology decision-makers
Leaders evaluating hyperscalers, AI platforms, and compliance frameworks who need honest, ranked analysis.
Independent IT consultants
Practitioners advising clients on AI readiness, infrastructure modernization, and governance posture.
Three things localis does
Each part of Localis was built to serve a specific need — and they reinforce each other. The handbook is the foundation. The tools make it operational. The advisory makes it applied.
Where to find Localis
How localis works
Practitioner-first
Written by someone who has worked inside the infrastructure, not observed it. Every framework, index, and recommendation is tested against real decisions.
Honest analysis
The Hyperscaler Best-Fit indices include a cost honesty dimension because vendor-provided comparisons are not neutral. Neither is Localis — but its bias is toward the administrator's outcome, not the vendor's revenue.
Work surfaces, not slide decks
The tools open in a browser and extend directly into the job. They are not presentations about the work — they are instruments for doing it.
Small organization focus
Enterprise IT has no shortage of consultants and frameworks. The small and mid-size organization — two to two hundred people — is underserved. That is the primary Localis audience.
Consistent identity across surfaces
Localis, the handbook, and the author share a visual identity and a point of view. What you read here and what you read at thevagabondlife.com are the same person, the same work.