AWS Case Study: Itaú Cultural

Itaú Cultural’s original local infrastructure consisted of three production servers and one development server. However, the institute’s IT department was recently challenged to enhance performance by incorporating open technologies. The purpose of the improvement was to create more effective platforms in which to host the institute’s individual projects.

Marcel Massayuki Watanabe, Senior Systems Analyst says, “In order to succeed with the challenge, we decided to do an implementation of what was more modern in the market in terms of technology and services.” Marcel goes on to say, “Thus, we decided to use the Amazon Web Services (AWS) environment as a proof of concept of cloud computing. Our choice was based on the experience AWS has in the area as well as their success.”

The institute’s infrastructure now uses Amazon’s Internet-based storage, Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), to host a WordPress and MySQL-based platform. This platform is currently running Itaú Cultural’s Memórias Capitais project, which compiles personal memories related to Brazil’s twenty-six state capitals.

Itaú Cultural’s IT department, and the institute as a whole, benefited from the open technologies challenge. Marcel explains, “The first win was in the development environment: we spent fewer hours to implement the solution, as well as the savings related to software licenses and respective support for the project. Another win was in the production and load process where the project team completed its goals in much less time and with no rework or even delays due to the efficiency and ease of the AWS tools. Lastly and most important was the win of acquiring knowledge of efficient technology and services that allowed us to evolve on this model to implement new projects!”

In the wake of this success, Itaú Cultural now views cloud technology as an opportunity to expand its cultural and arts mission. In fact, the institute is already developing new uses for its AWS infrastructure, including a Drupal-based environment for a future project. Marcel notes, “The access to the AWS environment allows higher agility on deployment of applications and on incidents resolution. This challenge was a tremendous learning process. We had the opportunity to learn new ways to meet our customers’ demands and do an implementation project with more efficiency and effectiveness.”

To learn more, visit http://www.itaucultural.org.br/ .

Added December 7, 2011