Cognitran Deploys Customized CDN Solution in under 12 Weeks Using Amazon CloudFront

Automotive software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider Cognitran offers technical information software and systems around after-sales, diagnostic services, data analytics, content management, and multilingual publications. The company serves over 200,000 active users across original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

Automotive internal software has become more advanced over time, and many of Cognitran’s OEMs require complex calibration files so that they can perform the necessary maintenance and repairs. “Cars often have new technologies, like autonomous driving, electrification, infotainment, and telematics,” says David Butterworth, director and business leader at Cognitran. “The amount of software content and technical information required for one car has grown exponentially.”

Cognitran decided to build a new solution that would quickly deliver large, complex files after one of its customers approached the company with this request. Previously, Cognitran and this customer had collaborated to build a custom technical information distribution system that ran on a CDN from a third-party vendor. However, the customer was looking for a CDN solution that would balance performance and cost-effectiveness. “We have users all around the world, and they want the best possible experience in terms of responsiveness,” says Butterworth. Cognitran’s customer was also under pressure to come up with a new solution because it was facing a contract renewal with its incumbent vendor in 3 months.

Given its history of using AWS, Cognitran decided to engage AWS Professional Services, which helps companies achieve their desired business outcomes using AWS solutions. Cognitran relied on technical advice from the AWS Professional Services team to accelerate its creation of a secure solution that would receive authorization from its customer’s internal IT team. “It was critical to get this system implemented in the timescale we were given,” says Butterworth. “We built a proof of concept alongside the AWS Professional Services team that included some augmented security aspects.”

Cognitran developed this new solution using CloudFront as the backbone for delivering content in milliseconds. To meet its customer’s security requirements, the company also implemented AWS Shield, a managed distributed-denial-of-service protection solution, along with AWS Firewall Manager, which gives companies the ability to centrally configure and manage firewall rules across accounts and applications. “Using out-of-the-box solutions like AWS Shield and AWS Firewall Manager was very attractive to us,” says Butterworth.

By April 2022, Cognitran had completed the proof of concept and received approval from its customer’s IT team to deploy the new CDN system. From there, Cognitran worked on the implementation so that it would not affect its customer’s production environment. “We had zero downtime or service interruption during the switchover,” says Butterworth. “It was an incredible achievement for us, especially considering the time constraints.”

Using this custom-built system, Cognitran’s customer can quickly deliver content anywhere with 99.99 percent uptime—without having any physical infrastructure in place. “Using Amazon CloudFront means that we can deliver content to our customer very quickly,” says Butterworth. “That reliability is key to speeding up the technician experience.” Cognitran and its customer also have greater visibility into the performance of its new solution compared with its previous CDN. Greater visibility helps Cognitran troubleshoot errors and develop relevant new features as needed.

Based on the results of this project, Cognitran has decided to add this new system to its SaaS offering. “We can secure a new revenue stream by offering this solution,” says Butterworth. Cognitran has also joined the AWS Partner Network, which will help it grow its business on AWS. The company has already enrolled in several AWS training opportunities to deepen its understanding of CloudFront and upskill its teams.

“We want to expand into different areas, such as connected vehicles, remote diagnostics, and vehicle monitoring,” says Butterworth. “Becoming an AWS Partner will help us target a specific market share and attract more OEMs to use our SaaS solutions.”