Navigating cloud costs in the DevOps sector
Optimizing costs and performance through smart infrastructure strategy
About the Customer
The customer is a technology company specializing in developer tools that streamline the development process. They focus on Bazel, an open-source build system, offering features for faster, more efficient, and scalable builds. Their platform enhances CI/CD (continuous integration/continuous delivery) workflows, enabling seamless collaboration, optimized build performance, and improved productivity. Serving engineering teams from startups to enterprises, they are committed to open-source innovation and delivering high-quality software at scale.
Industry
Technology, DevOps
NetActuate Services Provided
- Colocation
- Anycast Network
- Network Solutions
Challenge
Skyrocketing cloud costs: The company faced unsustainable cloud expenses, reaching $100,000 per month, driven by their reliance on Goolge cloud infrastructure for Bazel-based developer tools. Recognizing the financial strain, the leadership team began exploring cost-efficient alternatives to regain control over their budget.
Solution
To address the rising costs, the company partnered with NetActuate and transitioned to a colocation facility, investing in their own hardware. This shift provided:
- Cost control: Moving from unpredictable cloud billing to manageable colocation expenses.
- Operational independence: Gaining autonomy over their infrastructure with reduced reliance on third-party providers.
- Predictable expenses: Stabilizing monthly costs for better financial planning.
The West Coast colocation setup met operational needs and reduced costs while maintaining service quality.
The lessons: Balancing costs and strategic investments
This case illustrates the importance of combining cost-saving measures with infrastructure planning. Key takeaways include:
- Plan for geographical distribution: Avoid latency issues by aligning infrastructure with client locations.
- Invest in advanced networking: Solutions like Anycast can enhance performance for dispersed clients.
- Allocate resources for timely upgrades: Delaying critical infrastructure improvements can lead to bottlenecks.
- Strategize thoroughly: Effective planning ensures financial and technical challenges are addressed during cloud repatriation.
The NetActuate Difference
NetActuate’s global infrastructure and expertise in colocation, networking, and hybrid cloud solutions offered the customer a clear path to optimizing costs while maintaining performance. By leveraging NetActuate’s global presence, including diverse datacenter locations and advanced networking capabilities like Anycast, the customer was able to:
- Address latency challenges: Distribute infrastructure across key regions to ensure low-latency performance for geographically dispersed clients.
- Simplify operations: Access scalable solutions with the flexibility to expand globally while keeping costs predictable.
- Enhance resilience: Benefit from built-in redundancy, robust transit options, and carrier-neutral facilities for increased reliability.
- Stay competitive: Partnering with a provider like NetActuate ensures cutting-edge solutions without the overhead of managing complex global infrastructure.
By integrating NetActuate’s solutions, the company further streamlined its infrastructure strategy, addressing performance gaps and maintaining seamless service for its end users.
“Moving to colocation with NetActuate drastically reduced our cloud costs and gave us more control over our infrastructure. We’ve achieved predictable expenses, improved performance, and now have the flexibility to scale strategically.”
Results
- Cost savings and predictable expenses: Significant reduction in monthly costs and improved financial sustainability.
- Operational independence: Greater control over infrastructure and reduced reliance on external providers.
- Enhanced performance potential: Advanced networking solutions like Anycast offer opportunities to address latency and improve service delivery.
- Scalability for growth: Ownership of infrastructure enables strategic, flexible scaling for long-term needs.
By balancing cost efficiency with strategic investments—and leveraging providers like NetActuate for optimized solutions—the company achieved a more sustainable infrastructure model while laying the foundation for future growth and performance improvements.