AWS Case Study # 1: A leading global energy company
The Challenge
Corporates acquire and divest businesses for strategic, financial, and other reasons. This process can affect all parts of an organization and cause business disruptions if not managed efficiently.
The client's organisation had also gone through the similar situation. In this scenario, the client had decided to contour its business to focus on research and exploration . As part of this process, the client had made plans to divest its downstream businesses.
In anticipation of this situation of business systems and data splits, the client approached us to migrate to the cloud platform.
The Solution
We logically separated their servers into appropriate subnets and applied network configuration using Amazon VPC As the company’s needs evolved, we switched their existing networks to AWS Direct Connect with a 1Gbps connection for increased consistent network performance.
We migrated 200 servers to AWS in the Eastern US Region. Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS) attached to Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances providing block level storage for almost 500 TB of data
We also used various Microsoft SQL Server versions in the environment to create backups for the SQL Server & Oracle databases,to store data first in Amazon S3 and then into Amazon Glacier for long-term archiving.
Business Benefits
This project was about to launch in market and we completed the AWS Cloud migration in 6 months,It would have taken at least twice as long if physical servers were used.
The culture shift and cloud migration are allowing the client to take more risks. “Using AWS it helped the client company to be more agile in developing revenue-generating products.
The client also wanted to transition the existing infrastructure to a new one as seamlessly as possible and without a lengthy support agreement.
Inorder to minimize security risk and ensure smooth access to the environment, we used an AWS Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) device for authentication. The transition took place in less than 30-minutes !
AWS Case Study # 2: A leading cloud-based home security service
The Challenge
In 2011, when the company launched the cloud-based home security service, they bought servers and used a co-location data center in Buckingham, England. As the products' user base expanded, the number of videos it stored also required a huge database and network and hosting requirements. Scalability quickly became an issue. The major issue was to manage their own physical hardwares w.r.t. hosting, the bandwidth, and the storage were all too expensive, and the costs to the customer were really unacceptable.
Security was also a concern: as they needed a platform to enable security of customers private videos. They needed a solution that would work in the most cost-effective way.
The Solution
The client noticed that Amazon Web Services (AWS) consistently lowers its prices for storage and computing power. We re-builded their AWS service to provide a secure & seamlessly integrated user experience without forcing customers to use third party storage's.
When movement is detected inside a customer’s home/business, the clients cameras record the movements, sends an email to the customer using Amazon Simple Email Service (Amazon SES), and then encrypt the video and save it using Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3). ,which are then uploaded to
Facebook using AWS if required. The company stores about 5 TB of data on Amazon S3.
Now it runs 32 instances of Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), and uses Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) for cost-efficient, re- sizable capacity. We have advised to use Amazon S3 Server Side Encryption to encrypt customer videos.
Business Benefits
The way AWS structures its pricing helped the client to increase free storage to seven days and still turn a profit. , It’s a strategy that’s paying off. The client is now doubling their customers every six months, partly because AWS offers them free storage.
The company has achieved 99.997 percent availability up time for customers by using AWS.
The client has realized cost savings by not having to maintain traditional physical servers !
AWS Case Study # 3: A leading VOIP solution provider
Challenges
Our client who has multiple offices across the world was finding it difficult to implement a perfect VOIP solutions. He was struggling to scale as his server implemented with voip solutions has already reached its limits. Calls were frequently getting dropped and there was difficulty in transferring calls from geographical office to another. This has raised a huge issue of dropping potential customers and revenue for his business.
Solution
SparkSupport engineers analyzed the situation thoroughly, to have both performance and scalability chose cloud based solution for his VOIP setup. The perfect cloud solution to meet both this requirement was Amazon AWS. We deployed Asterisk and FreeSwitch on Amazon cloud EC2. Since there wasn't any compatible prebuilt AMI with asterisk and zaptel driver kernel module we created our own AMI with DAHDI(zaptel) driver.Since DAHDI is a kernel module we recompiled kernel with necessary modules and changes. Once the instance was up with new custom kernel we compiled asterisk on instance and tweaked asterisk as per clients requirement. A asterisk cluster was then deployed to meet both the present and future requirements. We have also compiled freeswitch for clients who may need that on EC2.
We made security groups for instance and firewall rules to make sure that the necessary tcp-udp ports are not blocked and traffic is happening through them with out flaw. There is no any specific drawback for asterisk as well as Freeswitch on EC2.They are working perfectly as they are on physical servers.
Business Benefits
Our client now manages over 5 offices with around 20 agents in each with a asterisk cluster we have setup in Amazon cloud. He has now a stable system which can further manage another 5 office, needless to say his business has grown leaps and bounds and he is selling like crazy, all his products.
Case Study # 4 : Cloud Computing & Automation
We designed and implemented a cloud management platform for an international conglomerate, enabling the company to serve over 2,00,000 end users and reduced the time to market for critical applications.
Challenges
-
Create a cloud platform that enables the company to take advantage of high-
value, high-growth opportunities
- Quick movement goals and limited internal cloud experience
Solutions
- Developed architecture based on co-developed requirements
- Trusted advisor role through vendor due diligence and selection
- Implemented deployment automation framework
- Led training and education sessions for cloud impacted teams
Business Benefits
-
Completed CMP evaluation, selection and pilot in 10 weeks
- 2,00,000 worldwide users supported with multiple private and public clouds that are managed through a single interface
- Accelerated DevOps delivery for new platforms and SDLC standardization
Case Study # 5 :Improving Cloud Application Performance & Reducing Downtime
We helped a global education provider reduce availability and
performance incidents that were impacting over 3 million students on
their online education platforms while decreasing time to market for
new services in the competitive education technology market.
Challenges
- Rapidly expanding global user base
- Disruptive innovation in educational technology and in doctrinal practices
- Accelerating workload straining application architecture and infrastructure
deployments
- Multiple service providers
- Significant performance, security and compliance requirements
Solutions
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) focused architecture to leverage global capabilities
- Distributed instances for availability, global performance and load balancing
- Single pane of glass for monitoring, enabling rapid identification and isolation of issues
- Application refactoring for scalability, resiliency and transparency
- Application Performance Management practices implementation
- Service management organization for high availability
Business Benefits
- Reduced availability incidents
- Improved user experience and performance from global deployments
- Reusable application architectures based on approved reference architectures
- Improved agility through application migration to AWS
- Increased scalability and manageability to address variable workloads
- Reduced total cost of ownership
Case Study # 6 :Migrating from Traditional Apps to Cloud Services
We prepared the technical cloud strategy for a workforce management software company, positioning the firm for aggressive growth and increased customer service capabilities
Challenges
- Expand reach and capture new markets through SaaS transformation
- Architect robust cloud strategy
- Create migration plan to transition existing customers to the cloud
Solutions
Phase 1 - Current State Assessment
Case Study # 7 :OpenStack Private Cloud
We designed and deployed an OpenStack private cloud for a leading
Middle East based MSP, enabling the firm to organize and gain easier access to large chunks of data/resources at the lowest costs.
# 1 - Build a hybrid public/private cloud solution :
Many organizations are looking to build a private cloud infrastructure in their own data centers in order to reduce their dependence on expensive public cloud services. Using SparkMyCloud's expertise solution puts this capability in the hands of virtually any organization. Using OpenStack we can turn a rack of servers into a working cloud in less time than you’d imagine, leaving you free to start deploying services. Now you can choose to run applications in a public OpenStack cloud (such as RackSpace) or your own private cloud.
# 2 - Quickly build and deploy a Private Cloud in your data center :
Switching your data center from discrete services to a cloud can let you get the most from your equipment. Using SparkMyCloud's expertise solution makes it easy to build a working cloud, optimizing the utilization of the servers in your data center while maintaining the service levels your customers demand.
# 3 - Build an expandable cloud infrastructure to meet the elastic demand rates :
If your business plan calls for a cloud infrastructure that grows over time, you need a cost effective way to do that. Using SparkMyCloud's expertise solution you can build and manage your OpenStack cloud right from the start, you can eliminate much of the cost in both resources and time. The task of adding nodes, loading them with the right software, and configuring them properly to join the cloud becomes quick and easy.
