AWS Case Study: GatherSpace

When interest in on-demand software (Software as a Service, or SaaS) began booming, the needs of GatherSpace’s customer base changed significantly. GatherSpace needed to address new customer demands, including: the capacity to accommodate global customers with a regionally distributed database configuration, the capability to block access from private databases, and a relationship with a trusted hosting partner. GatherSpace began researching solutions that wouldn’t shrink its margins or increase its prices.

It was crucial to find an economical solution that did not require a large investment in infrastructure and support. So, of course, it’s no surprise that the company found an exceedingly affordable and workable solution with Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Before switching to AWS, GatherSpace used a hosting company that provided a similar architecture. However, the AWS architecture presented additional features. With AWS, GatherSpace was able to use its own Tomcat applications in conjunction with Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) to establish regional servers closer to its clients. In addition, the AWS solution gave GatherSpace the capability of fine-tuning its queries, resulting in faster processing.

The first step in building the AWS solution was to move the company’s MySQL database to an Amazon RDS instance. GatherSpace also uses several programming languages and tools to integrate with AWS, including JSP, Ajax, SQL, and MySQL. Amazon RDS’s efficient processing and exceptional security make it the ideal product for helping to protect the sensitive information of GatherSpace’s clients.

After a relatively short period, GatherSpace.com has seen measurable results from the AWS solution. As Hassan Elletrache, GatherSpace Vice President of Strategy & Planning explains, “with the use of Amazon RDS, GatherSpace was still able to provide redundant database clusters with administrative access for 50% of the price of other top tier hosting partners,” which resulted in significant savings.

The cost-effectiveness and efficiency of the AWS solution has proven to be so successful that GatherSpace.com expects to deploy new parts and features to their product using AWS components.

There are so many positive things about AWS solutions, but Elletrache believes that peace of mind is perhaps the most important. He explains that “GatherSpace’s latest release leveraging AWS components allows our customers and us to sleep better at night knowing that sensitive requirements data is safe and secure.” Highly secure data and a good night’s sleep with AWS solutions? Priceless.

To learn more, visit http://www.gatherspace.com/ .