Google Cloud Platform Case Studies Apester's Transformation: Leveraging Google Cloud for Scalable Storytelling

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	Apester's Transformation: Leveraging Google Cloud for Scalable Storytelling Google Cloud Platform

Apester's Transformation: Leveraging Google Cloud for Scalable Storytelling

Google Cloud Platform

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Machine Learning Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms
Applicable Industries	Cement Construction & Infrastructure
Applicable Functions	Maintenance Warehouse & Inventory Management
Use Cases	Construction Management Time Sensitive Networking
Services	Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services System Integration
Challenge	Apester, a company that provides tools for creating, distributing, and monetizing interactive visual content, was facing challenges with its business intelligence (BI) and data warehousing systems. The existing solution was adequate for small amounts of data, but as the company grew, attracting approximately 100 million unique users per month, it began to show signs of strain. The system also placed limitations on the kind of analytics Apester could run. The company wanted to capitalize on its growing customer base and gain as much insight as possible, without worrying about scale or cumbersome licensing fees. Additionally, Apester’s developers and data scientists wanted to use open source technology as much as possible to avoid over-reliance on any one vendor. Read More
About Customer	Apester is a technology company based in Israel that provides tools for creating, distributing, and monetizing interactive visual content. The company helps publishers, advertisers, and businesses tell highly engaging online stories that are mobile friendly, seamlessly integrated with their sites, and can be distributed at scale. Since its launch in 2014, Apester’s comprehensive, easy-to-use creation tools have attracted approximately 100 million unique users per month. The company's content ranges from quizzes and polls to innovative, visual stories popularized on social media. Read More
Solution	Apester turned to Google Cloud for its new BI and data warehousing solution. The company began building its data solution around Cloud Dataflow, Cloud Dataproc, and Cloud Bigtable along with open source Apache Beam for its data processing and analytics needs. Over time, Apester explored Google’s options further and eventually settled on BigQuery as its main analytics solution. The company also migrated from a virtual machine-based architecture to one based on Kubernetes, improving the speed of Apester’s autoscaling without troubling the developers with server setup and maintenance demands. Kubernetes Engine became the backbone of the new infrastructure, while Cloud Pub/Sub became the message bus and Stackdriver helped take care of its logging and monitoring needs. Cloud Identity Access and Management (IAM) enabled Apester to give out permissions quickly and easily without compromising on security. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Machine Learning

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms

Applicable Industries

Cement

Construction & Infrastructure

Applicable Functions

Maintenance

Warehouse & Inventory Management

Use Cases

Construction Management

Time Sensitive Networking

Services

Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services

System Integration

Challenge

Apester, a company that provides tools for creating, distributing, and monetizing interactive visual content, was facing challenges with its business intelligence (BI) and data warehousing systems. The existing solution was adequate for small amounts of data, but as the company grew, attracting approximately 100 million unique users per month, it began to show signs of strain. The system also placed limitations on the kind of analytics Apester could run. The company wanted to capitalize on its growing customer base and gain as much insight as possible, without worrying about scale or cumbersome licensing fees. Additionally, Apester’s developers and data scientists wanted to use open source technology as much as possible to avoid over-reliance on any one vendor.

About Customer

Apester is a technology company based in Israel that provides tools for creating, distributing, and monetizing interactive visual content. The company helps publishers, advertisers, and businesses tell highly engaging online stories that are mobile friendly, seamlessly integrated with their sites, and can be distributed at scale. Since its launch in 2014, Apester’s comprehensive, easy-to-use creation tools have attracted approximately 100 million unique users per month. The company's content ranges from quizzes and polls to innovative, visual stories popularized on social media.

Solution

Apester turned to Google Cloud for its new BI and data warehousing solution. The company began building its data solution around Cloud Dataflow, Cloud Dataproc, and Cloud Bigtable along with open source Apache Beam for its data processing and analytics needs. Over time, Apester explored Google’s options further and eventually settled on BigQuery as its main analytics solution. The company also migrated from a virtual machine-based architecture to one based on Kubernetes, improving the speed of Apester’s autoscaling without troubling the developers with server setup and maintenance demands. Kubernetes Engine became the backbone of the new infrastructure, while Cloud Pub/Sub became the message bus and Stackdriver helped take care of its logging and monitoring needs. Cloud Identity Access and Management (IAM) enabled Apester to give out permissions quickly and easily without compromising on security.

Impact #1	The shift to Google Cloud has not only saved Apester time and money, but it has also changed the way the company thinks about its processes. The IT team has developed a service-based mindset that focuses on results and improving the overall Apester product line, rather than fussing over the minutiae of DevOps. With the migration done, Apester continues to look for new ways to improve and evolve its products. The company is using Cloud Natural Language APIs to enhance the personalization of its service. Along with the data held in BigQuery, Apester’s work with the Cloud Natural Language modules provides the basis for an exploration into machine learning (ML). The company is heavily investing in its ML capabilities, and started using Tensorflow for its pipeline, enabling Apester to become even more responsive to its customers’ needs even as its audience expands.

Impact #1

The shift to Google Cloud has not only saved Apester time and money, but it has also changed the way the company thinks about its processes. The IT team has developed a service-based mindset that focuses on results and improving the overall Apester product line, rather than fussing over the minutiae of DevOps. With the migration done, Apester continues to look for new ways to improve and evolve its products. The company is using Cloud Natural Language APIs to enhance the personalization of its service. Along with the data held in BigQuery, Apester’s work with the Cloud Natural Language modules provides the basis for an exploration into machine learning (ML). The company is heavily investing in its ML capabilities, and started using Tensorflow for its pipeline, enabling Apester to become even more responsive to its customers’ needs even as its audience expands.

Benefit #1	Delivered 3.5 billion story experiences a year for half the cost of the previous infrastructure
Benefit #2	Cut deployment time from four hours to less than a minute with Kubernetes
Benefit #3	Tripled its user base while halving infrastructure costs

Benefit #1

Delivered 3.5 billion story experiences a year for half the cost of the previous infrastructure

Benefit #2

Cut deployment time from four hours to less than a minute with Kubernetes

Benefit #3

Tripled its user base while halving infrastructure costs

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Overview

Apester's Transformation: Leveraging Google Cloud for Scalable Storytelling

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit