IBM Case Studies RunKeeper: Shaping up with lean administration and superior user experience

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	RunKeeper: Shaping up with lean administration and superior user experience IBM

RunKeeper: Shaping up with lean administration and superior user experience

IBM

Technology Category	Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms
Applicable Industries	Healthcare & Hospitals
Applicable Functions	Product Research & Development
Use Cases	Remote Asset Management
Services	Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
Challenge	RunKeeper, a fitness startup, was facing scalability issues with its existing PostgreSQL database as the company expanded. The database was unable to keep up with the pace of growth, threatening to halt the company's progress. RunKeeper wanted to eliminate performance bottlenecks and reduce the time and effort spent on database administration. This would allow the company to focus its resources on developing new data-driven features and applications, and help users to access and analyze their data faster and more reliably. Read More
About Customer	RunKeeper is a fitness startup founded in 2008. It offers fitness applications for iOS and Android devices, enabling users to log wellness and performance data related to outdoor activities. The RunKeeper mobile phone application lets users turn an iPhone or Android smartphone into a personal trainer that records their details for walking, running, cycling and other outdoor activities – enabling users to monitor their progress towards fitness targets. The company's apps are used by 30 million people, and integrate with more than 100 third-party devices and services. The company is privately owned and is based in Boston, MA. Read More
Solution	RunKeeper chose to replace its existing database with IBM Cloudant Dedicated Cluster, an always-on database-as-a-service that stores data as self-describing JSON documents. The solution is optimized to handle extremely high numbers of concurrent reads and writes, which is exactly what RunKeeper needs to track every detail of its users’ fitness activities. Data is automatically stored, indexed and distributed across an elastic database cluster that can span multiple racks, data centers or cloud providers to offer superior scalability, providing headroom for growth. RunKeeper is taking advantage of the Apache Lucene Full Text Search capability offered through the IBM Cloudant API, using it to accelerate user queries. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms

Applicable Industries

Healthcare & Hospitals

Applicable Functions

Product Research & Development

Use Cases

Remote Asset Management

Services

Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services

Challenge

RunKeeper, a fitness startup, was facing scalability issues with its existing PostgreSQL database as the company expanded. The database was unable to keep up with the pace of growth, threatening to halt the company's progress. RunKeeper wanted to eliminate performance bottlenecks and reduce the time and effort spent on database administration. This would allow the company to focus its resources on developing new data-driven features and applications, and help users to access and analyze their data faster and more reliably.

About Customer

RunKeeper is a fitness startup founded in 2008. It offers fitness applications for iOS and Android devices, enabling users to log wellness and performance data related to outdoor activities. The RunKeeper mobile phone application lets users turn an iPhone or Android smartphone into a personal trainer that records their details for walking, running, cycling and other outdoor activities – enabling users to monitor their progress towards fitness targets. The company's apps are used by 30 million people, and integrate with more than 100 third-party devices and services. The company is privately owned and is based in Boston, MA.

Solution

RunKeeper chose to replace its existing database with IBM Cloudant Dedicated Cluster, an always-on database-as-a-service that stores data as self-describing JSON documents. The solution is optimized to handle extremely high numbers of concurrent reads and writes, which is exactly what RunKeeper needs to track every detail of its users’ fitness activities. Data is automatically stored, indexed and distributed across an elastic database cluster that can span multiple racks, data centers or cloud providers to offer superior scalability, providing headroom for growth. RunKeeper is taking advantage of the Apache Lucene Full Text Search capability offered through the IBM Cloudant API, using it to accelerate user queries.

Impact #1	IBM Cloudant Dedicated Cluster gives RunKeeper a fully managed, high-performance database layer in the cloud. This allows RunKeeper's own IT staff to focus on developing new mobile applications and enhancing existing apps, improving the end-user experience.
Impact #2	With no schema to manage, and with all administration and optimization handled by the IBM Cloudant team, RunKeeper can focus entirely on its apps rather than on the database layer.
Impact #3	The IBM Cloudant solution will scale seamlessly and easily, allowing RunKeeper to keep pace with rapidly increasing data volumes as it acquires more users and launches new services.

Impact #1

IBM Cloudant Dedicated Cluster gives RunKeeper a fully managed, high-performance database layer in the cloud. This allows RunKeeper's own IT staff to focus on developing new mobile applications and enhancing existing apps, improving the end-user experience.

Impact #2

With no schema to manage, and with all administration and optimization handled by the IBM Cloudant team, RunKeeper can focus entirely on its apps rather than on the database layer.

Impact #3

The IBM Cloudant solution will scale seamlessly and easily, allowing RunKeeper to keep pace with rapidly increasing data volumes as it acquires more users and launches new services.

Benefit #1	Saves one DBA FTE, now reassigned to focus on the user experience
Benefit #2	Enhanced performance gives users fast access to data and analytics

Benefit #1

Saves one DBA FTE, now reassigned to focus on the user experience

Benefit #2

Enhanced performance gives users fast access to data and analytics

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Overview

RunKeeper: Shaping up with lean administration and superior user experience

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit