Case Studies > Devicescape Reduces Costs and Increases Operational Effectiveness by Switching to Altiscale

Devicescape Reduces Costs and Increases Operational Effectiveness by Switching to Altiscale

Company Size

200-1,000

Region

America

Country

United States

Product

Altiscale Data Cloud
Amazon EMR
Devicescape Service Platform (DSP)

Tech Stack

Hadoop
Amazon EMR
Altiscale Data Cloud

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Cost Savings
Customer Satisfaction
Productivity Improvements

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Big Data Analytics
Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing

Applicable Industries

Software
Telecommunications

Applicable Functions

Business Operation
Quality Assurance

Services

Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
Software Design & Engineering Services
System Integration

About The Customer

Devicescape operates the Devicescape Service Platform (DSP), the world's largest platform for Wi-Fi service. The DSP creates a seamless, quality-controlled mobile data experience for smartphone and tablet users, generating billions of customer usage data points every day. Devicescape provides wireless service providers with access to this platform, enabling them to offer enhanced Wi-Fi services to their customers. The company relies on Hadoop to analyze the massive volumes of data generated by the DSP, which serves as the basis for billing reports for service providers and creates analytical insights to improve service delivery. Devicescape's primary goal is to ensure a high level of service quality and operational efficiency while managing the costs associated with data processing and analysis.

The Challenge

Devicescape initially used Amazon Elastic MapReduce (EMR) to process the data generated daily by the Devicescape Service Platform (DSP). However, Amazon EMR provided inadequate support and performance, leading to recurring job failures and increased costs due to the need for costly on-demand and reserved instances. The frequent job failures and the need to rerun jobs multiple times reduced data accuracy and drove up expenses. Devicescape faced significant challenges in maintaining operational efficiency and meeting its Service Level Agreements (SLAs) due to these issues. The company needed a more reliable and cost-effective solution to handle its Hadoop infrastructure and improve its data processing capabilities.

The Solution

Devicescape decided to replace Amazon EMR with the Altiscale Data Cloud to address the challenges it faced with its Hadoop infrastructure. The Altiscale Data Cloud is purpose-built to run Hadoop and offers optimized infrastructure that decreases job failures, resulting in faster job completion. Devicescape conducted a head-to-head comparison between Altiscale and Amazon EMR by running a real-world reporting and billing cycle on each platform. Altiscale outperformed Amazon EMR in terms of both performance and cost, providing a more reliable and predictable cost structure. The Altiscale team of experts ensured performance by running, updating, and managing the entire implementation, as well as providing proactive help-desk support. This level of service was unmatched by Amazon EMR and allowed Devicescape to focus more on its core business rather than Hadoop administration. The transition to Altiscale enabled Devicescape to improve its Hadoop performance, reduce costs, and enhance operational efficiency.

Operational Impact

Altiscale's optimized infrastructure decreased job failures, resulting in faster job completion and improved operational efficiency.
Devicescape's staff was freed from Hadoop administration tasks, allowing them to focus on the company's core business.
The transition to Altiscale enabled Devicescape to meet or beat its Service Level Agreements (SLAs) by distributing billing-related activities evenly throughout the month.
Altiscale's expert support and proactive help-desk services provided unmatched performance and reliability, further enhancing customer satisfaction.
Devicescape was able to radically change its billing process, moving from batch billing cycles over a five-day period each month to daily billing, improving service delivery to wireless service providers.

Quantitative Benefit

Altiscale costs Devicescape 60% less than Amazon EMR.
Devicescape's Hadoop-related staffing costs were reduced by 80% due to the transition to Altiscale.