IT Outposts

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Engineering Manager of Dreamflare AI

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We’re the creators of DreamFlare AI, a streaming service that features AI-generated shows. Viewers can watch and interact with content, deciding how the plot will develop.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire IT Outposts to accomplish?

• Create an automated CI/CD pipeline
• Set up complete system tracking to catch and alert about any problems
• Make sure the system can handle traffic
• Launch on time and successfully

SOLUTION

How did you find IT Outposts?

Referral

Why did you select IT Outposts over others?

Pricing fit our budget

How many teammates from IT Outposts were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

At the beginning, we didn't have any automated deployment processes, and we couldn’t comprehensively monitor our system’s health.

Another important requirement was a pre-release testing branch where our team could test new features. In general, our main goal was to solve all the current problems and prepare our infrastructure for the launch day, so we could focus on all the ambitious goals we have in our backlog.

The deliverables are more than satisfactory! IaC, dev, stage, and prod stages, secure database. The list doesn’t end here, but the key deliverable is that DreamFlare now has everything to grow.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Big thanks to IT Outposts for helping us launch our platform! Now we have the tools to manage our infrastructure, keep the service stable and secure, and scale. I consider it a solid start for our product

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The team handled our project really well, especially since we had a lot on our plate and priorities were shifting. They know how to prioritize, what could wait, and what should come first. It would be impossible if IT Outposts didn’t have the skill to keep the bigger picture in mind.

In a word, flexible project management. And the team responsive to any urgent issues. That’s exactly the kind of project management we needed

What was your primary form of communication with IT Outposts?

Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They thought through problems, suggested better solutions, and treated our platform like their own. IT Outposts took genuine ownership of our project. I believe when your vendor is invested, that’s what makes all the difference in project success!

Are there any areas for improvement or something IT Outposts could have done differently?

The team is already quite strong. Even so, they're constantly learning and experimenting. They're not afraid to try new things. It’s always a pleasure to work with someone who thinks outside the box, especially when you think outside the box too.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO & Founder of Netrocket

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Netrocket helps small and medium-sized businesses grow their revenue and sales. We’re a partner that provides digital marketing services, with a focus on two main areas: Search Engine Optimization and Online Advertising.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire IT Outposts to accomplish?

• Setting up infrastructure on AWS
• Establishing CI/CD
• Configuring autoscaling
• Implementing monitoring solutions

SOLUTION

How did you find IT Outposts?

Referral

Why did you select IT Outposts over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit

How many teammates from IT Outposts were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Our company is developing a proprietary SEO tool tailored specifically to our clients' needs, which is a client platform where our customers will be able to access various metrics related to their websites. They’ll be able to log in and see details like website traffic, backlinks, page rankings, keyword positions, and so on. 

Before launching the tool, we wanted to make sure our systems could handle our customers without any problems or slowdowns. Netrocket engaged IT Outposts for DevOps consulting and implementation, as well as CI/CD integration.

IT Outposts worked closely with our developers to understand how our tool would work. Then they prepared our infrastructure on AWS to make sure it will be fast and reliable when the tool launches. 

Their DevOps engineers’ job was to set up and optimize the systems to support our new tool properly. So, they set up load balancing so traffic would be distributed accordingly and auto-scaling so more servers could be added. Monitoring was added too, so we could see if anything went wrong.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We haven’t launched yet, but this partnership guarantees that we can hit the ground running without having to identify and fix issues after our software is live.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

IT Outposts’ project managers created a detailed communication plan that fits our way of working. This plan outlines the frequency of meetings, participants, agenda, and communication channels.

Throughout the project, they keep us updated on their progress. We have regular meetings where their team explains what was finished, what’s next, and if there are any problems. Constant updates are really important to us, as our team needs to monitor the progress to estimate the launch date.

What was your primary form of communication with IT Outposts?

Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

First, their deep technical expertise comes to mind. Also, IT Outposts made a clear, detailed plan for all the work that needed to be done. But they’re also flexible enough to shift priorities if anything changes along the way. Plus, they think ahead — we have a disaster recovery plan and a notification flow in case the unexpected does happen.

What stands out most is how well IT Outposts teams up with our developers. They took the time to fully understand how our tool works. This let them recommend just the right solutions custom-fit for our goals. And they made sure everyone knows exactly what part they’re responsible for to stay coordinated.

Are there any areas for improvement or something IT Outposts could have done differently?

I wouldn't change a thing about their performance. We're satisfied and would absolutely recommend this DevOps company to anyone looking to implement comprehensive DevOps practices for fast and reliable software delivery. They're true professionals who get results.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of OneDayBundle

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

OneDayBundle offers a fast and convenient e-commerce fulfillment service with integrated personal accounts, online inventory control, order status notifications, and services like storage, labeling, and packaging.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire IT Outposts to accomplish?

• Obtain certification with Amazon's security and operational requirements to access Amazon's Selling Partner API.

SOLUTION

How did you find IT Outposts?

Online Search

Why did you select IT Outposts over others?

Great culture fit

How many teammates from IT Outposts were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

When we decided to get Amazon's certification, we knew we had a lot of work ahead of us. To meet their requirements, we had to make big changes to our systems. First, IT Outposts moved our infrastructure from DigitalOcean to AWS. This helped build trust and made it easier to follow Amazon's rules.

Next, separate environments for development, testing, and deployment have been arranged. We also didn’t have a CI/CD pipeline in place, so IT Outposts automated the whole delivery process and described everything in code. To make scaling up and down smoother, they created a Kubernetes cluster for our environments with all the necessary monitoring and alerting systems.

Since Amazon pays great attention to data security, IT Outposts set up private networks that could only be accessed through bastion host. Much more was made to improve our software delivery and security.

Eventually, we got prepared for certification. IT Outposts helped us fill out a questionnaire and negotiate with Amazon's representatives.

ODB now has access to Amazon's Selling Partner API. That means we can integrate directly with their marketplace database. But that’s not all, as now we also have a highly-functional infrastructure, which is much more convenient to manage.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Cooperation with IT Outposts has been a game-changer for our business. Our main goal was to get certified with Amazon's strict security and operational rules so we could integrate our services directly with the Amazon marketplace. I'm thrilled to say we got access to Amazon's Selling Partner API.

In addition, the improvements made have had a huge positive impact on our operations. Our systems are way more reliable and can automatically scale up or down based on demand, thanks to moving to AWS and using Kubernetes. So, while achieving Amazon's certification was the goal, we ended up transforming our entire tech stack and processes.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

They made sure everything went smoothly from start to finish. From the very start, IT Outposts demonstrated excellent project management skills. They laid out a comprehensive roadmap, covering the AWS migration, implementing modern DevOps practices, security hardening, and supporting us through lengthy certification and audits. Even with such a wide scope, they stuck to the timelines we agreed on.

The communication was on point, too. We got regular updates, and they gave us heads-up anytime some potential roadblock seemed to come up. Anytime we had questions about their recommendations, the team made sure to explain the reasoning behind them. All of these gave us full confidence in handing IT Outposts this critical project.

What was your primary form of communication with IT Outposts?

Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

IT Outposts did more than just the technical work to meet Amazon’s requirements. They also actively participated in filling out the questionnaire and joined meetings with auditors, even though those tasks weren’t normally part of their services. Their extra involvement made sure everything went smoothly during our certification. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something IT Outposts could have done differently?

I'm struggling to point out any major areas for improvement. IT Outposts' solutions targeted our certification goals, but they also had a broader strategic value. By assisting with the certification, they helped us achieve an important milestone that allowed our company to grow and remain competitive. We were totally satisfied with the services IT Outposts delivered.
What advice do you have for clients with similar needs to yours?
When pursuing Amazon certification, be prepared to make significant infrastructure changes. Transition to AWS, establish separate environments for development, testing, and deployment, and implement a CI/CD pipeline with Kubernetes for scalability. Prioritize data security with private networks and bastion hosts. Lastly, seek assistance for certification preparation and negotiations to ensure a smooth process.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a CEO at AKMCreator. As an e-commerce solution provider, our company is committed to providing online trading services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire IT Outposts?

The primary purpose was to organize environments (preparation and production) for our Minimum Viable Product project. Creating such conditions was an important task for run-up, production and testing. We will also use continuous technical support for the subsequent fulfillment of the project during the next year. We aimed to choose a cloud provider for our product, set up provider services and CI/CD. The intention was to automate deployment and improve the conditions for the following development and expansion of the MVP.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We have studied many positive reviews about this company and realized that they will be able to close our needs. During the negotiations, we discussed our requirements and concerns with their team. They developed a coherent plan to solve our tasks. Already at the stage of the first communication, we noticed the favorable and friendly approach of IT Outposts, which made our cooperation comfortable.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

The IT Outposts`s work consisted of research and our work processes and loads state`s verification. They created the architecture. Their team helped us choose a reliable cloud provider and customized it according to our requests. The services were dockerized, then deployed and released the MVP. After, the necessary third-party services were configured.

Toolkit:

• Docker
• Terraform

CI/CD:

• CircleCI
• Argo CD
• Prometheus
• Redis
• Grafana
• RabbitMQ
• Elasticsearch
• CP (GKE, SQL Service (Postgres, Cloud Storage).

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

The team included head of DevOps and two DevOps specialists.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We have achieved deployment automation and the IT Outpost team has developed a thorough plan to save DevOps and developers time hereinafter by 30 to 50%. The project development will evolve faster due to the infrastructure agility.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

IT Outposts showed themself at the highest level at every stage of communication. They have built a multi-channel approach to conjunction. We could see IT Outposts as a responsible company that fulfilled their commitments punctually.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

It's their commitment to development, the enthusiasm of their team, also the great response to our ideas. They are a well-known competitive organization in the e-commerce field with highest rank IT specialists. I would like other experts in similar services to be the same as IT Outposts.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

In my experience, they are rapidly growing both qualitatively and quantitatively. I saw how they hone abilities. I did not notice any weaknesses, which is not surprising, since such dedication to their work will immediately allow them to notice shortcomings and quickly eliminate them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CTO at Beta Trader. Our enterprise is focused on the elaboration of financial services and the employ of a trustworthy platform founded on the blockchain.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire IT Outposts?

We used IT Outpost to apply DevOps practices to expand the infrastructure of the blockchain for smart contracts and core processes. Their specialists have helped us to attain a decent degree of steadiness and accessibility of projects in working condition. The fundamental direction was the elaboration of a DevOps methodology algorithm, as well as a roadmap for creating from the ground up and expanding in production an out-and-outer financial project.

We needed experts to maintain the extension of a high-load governance project. An important priority was the creation of descriptions of all procedures and products for high-quality compliance with the highest security policies for all aspects of the project and the minimum time for their recovery.

SOLUTION

How did you select IT Outposts and what were the deciding factors?

Our points were many years of experience and the presence of diverse successful cases, thus we understood that the enterprise was dependable. They conduct expertise in access management, adhere to proper security standards that meet the specifics of the financial project.

Moreover, one of our qualified partners commend IT Outposts and gave them an assessment of proficient and credible DevOps professionals.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Our team already had the MVP of the trading platform ready. To speed up the process and avoid superfluous faults, we began to cooperate with IT Outpost. They executed common configuration goals, improved complex services, and also created solutions for guiding internal processes.

They have provided a superior stage in accordance with safety regulations. We have adopted with them an integrated approach to the management of all processes in terms of proceeding and maintaining the production further.

How many resources from the IT Outposts team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Two Lead DevOps Engineers acted as specialists.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Their experts have developed a productive strategy for managing confidential data, customer functions and admission permissions. They structured a suitable CI / CD process and took into account the peculiarity of a large number of microservices. They have automated many handheld functions, eliminated human faults, and diminished risk overall.

They also afford automatic resource entertainment from whole environments.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We managed to establish a close relationship with the IT Outpost team, they worked in a proactive mode, thus they provided magnificent communication, which accelerated the processes. We have had productive and high-quality collaboration.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

First of all, these are their cases and a bunch of years of experience, they have created a well-functioning system of work and treat it with accountability. They were constantly in communication and their specialists immediately responded to our requests. We were amazed by their skills in DevOps and their advice in this area at the highest level.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

There is no limit to perfection. But after working with them at this stage, I did not identify areas where something could be improved, everything is at the highest level.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a BDM at Steelkiwi Inc. Our company specializes in finance, booking and scheduling, social networking, process automation, on-demand services, and eLearning. A large part of my work consists of FinTech projects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire IT Outposts, and what were your goals?

We hired the IT Outposts team for our project - we develop an innovative financial product with a custom analytical service. Among the main tasks standardizing processes for quick implementation and services integration with PCI DSS compliance.

The main goal was the integration into the product, flow clarification, and interaction with the internal team of the project. We also needed to align the deployment flow, and implement the GitOps approach. Additionally, we adjusted the security of the environment based on external audit reports.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We were looking for a reliable team of engineers with experience in financial project development support and experience in non-standard tech solutions implementation. We have found IT Outposts through a recommendation.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Initially, our team of architects and developers worked on the core of the payment system.

We were required to deploy infrastructure, set up CI / CD processes, conduct full testing of the project, standardize processes for on-premise deployment, and set up detailed dashboards with metrics of application and infrastructure performance.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

The team consists of Lead DevOps Engineers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The experts of IT Outposts helped us to automate and unify the product deployment workflow. All solutions were successfully accepted by the internal project team. At this moment IT Outposts are onboarding an internal DevOps Engineer for the project.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

The workflow between our distributed team and the team of IT Outposts experts was smooth and productive. Working in close cooperation, they did their best to reach the goals of the project.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They dived deeply into the product and always offered the best solutions. Also, I would like to admit the high level of communication and quick response to any requests.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Nothing specific comes to mind. Overall we are very satisfied.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a Chief Operating Officer at Maxxer. Maxxer is a centralized and regulated digital asset exchange. We are making crypto investing and trading accessible and simple.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire IT Outposts?

For what projects/services did your company hire IT Outposts? Our company hired the experts of IT Outposts for scaling processes and infrastructure of the project. It was required to provide the project stability and its high accessibility in production.

We had several goals for our project. The first one was to establish a DevOps strategy and roadmap for the adoption of new CI/CD flow with Kubernetes for distributed blockchain solutions. The second goal was to integrate and deploy ​​custom project services with the core platform. Also, we needed to introduce a RACI matrix as well as a central vault of secrets, envisage the ability to utilize various kinds of deployments, and configure a flexible CI/CD flow.

Another project goal was to configure various autoscaling types with detailed monitoring of resource utilization of clusters and project services. Finally, it was required to teach the developers and engineers of our in-house team and also follow solutions delivery to production providing quick rollback as well as a seamless process.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

How did you select IT Outposts? One of the partners recommended choosing IT Outposts as a reliable company. We explored their portfolio and were impressed by the solid background, thoughtful approach to work, and incredible deliverables that get the clients of IT Outposts. So, we were no longer in doubt and decided to start work.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

At the very beginning of the cooperation, we had a trading platform for B2B, B2C that effectively worked in production. We decided to go to a new phase of project scaling and new solutions adoption so hired IT Outposts. Their objective was to apply a non-standard approach and flexible solutions considering the specificity of our project.

The experts of IT Outposts designed services deployment and scaling plans, adopted the GitOps approach to the processes of project deployment. Also, they implemented solutions for working with sensitive data and access roles. IT Outposts maintain, improve development processes, and prepare the product for bringing to production.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

The team consists of 2 Lead DevOps Engineers. ​​

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The deliverables of our collaboration with IT Outposts are excellent. The experts devised a strategy for sensitive data, access rights, and roles management. Also, they established the most convenient CI/CD flow, considering the specificities of more than 30 microservices of the project. One more great outcome is that IT Outposts professionals have managed to mitigate the “human factor” and the jeopardies of production bugs. Also, they ensured auto-scaling of cluster resources and a Load balancer.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow between the specialists of IT Outposts and our in-house team was maximally coherent and fruitful. We quickly found common ground and started to move towards our common objectives.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

One of the most impressive things about the experts of IT Outposts is the high level of professionalism and extensive experience that allows them to offer the best possible solutions. Also, I would like to admit such excellent qualities as precision and responsibility.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

I cannot think of anything right now.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a Chief Executive Officer at Mriyar. Mriyar is a Ukrainian Big Data-based startup developing a car parts trading platform for B2C and B2B market.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire IT Outposts?

We hired the experts of IT Outposts to identify project bottlenecks as well as optimize and improve the underlying processes before sending the whole product into production stages. The project’s goal was to configure thorough monitoring of major high-load project services, create functional dashboards with a big number of system and custom business metrics, describe the configurations in Ansible playbooks, and integrate the system with the main project playbook. Also, it was necessary to compose a plan of stage-by-stage project migration to dedicated capacities to minimize downtime, conduct full-on migration, and test the performance of all services. And one more goal was to compose a plan of flexible project scaling and migration to Kubernetes.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We have found IT Outposts through recommendations. Among the crucial factors why we decided to select IT Outposts were their impressive portfolio, broad experience, and fair price.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

The infrastructure of the project was initially planned and structured by our in-house development team, so we required a good share of narrow-profiled expertise to identify project bottlenecks as well as optimize and improve the underlying processes before sending the whole product into production stages. The project was quite wide-scope from the get-go as it was intended to process extensive volumes of data. And this is exactly why it became difficult for us to manage the cloud infrastructure budget and monitor resource utilization without additional assistance.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

The team consists of 2 Lead DevOps Engineers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

IT Outposts experts have managed to adjust the detailed monitoring of over 35 servers and 7 services, which enabled them to also outline a clear infrastructure and underlying processes optimization plan. The infrastructure budget is projected to be optimized approximately by 40%. On top of that, there was formed a scope of tasks implying further optimization of the system for the rational use of resources by all services running in terms of the project.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow between our in-house team and the experts of IT Outposts was coherent and seamless. We have built successful and effective cooperation based on dedication to the common goals.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

We were impressed by the promptness and professionalism of IT Outposts. Their experts have a clear understanding of our needs. Also, they are very organized and timely.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Everything is going great and I don't think something needs to be improved.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a Founder of Vidby. Our company specializes in developing service of translate video. Our services allow users to separate audio from video, translate it into more than 50 languages, and then add this translation to the video.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire IT Outposts?

We hired DevOps experts of IT Outposts to сlarify the architecture plan of video calls service with real-time automatic translation while taking into account the specifics of the streaming platform. We needed to configure and integrate all project services, in particular,_to work with queues. The other task for the experts of IT Outposts was project maintenance in production.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We were looking for a company with a high level of DevOps engineers’ expertise, a deep understanding of our business needs, and reliability. We have contacted IT Outposts through a recommendation. The IT Outposts team quickly understood what we wanted to achieve and provided the resources we needed.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

The project team finished preparing the basic architecture and developed several microservices locally. The members of this team were looking for an alternative DevOps opinion to clarify the infrastructure requirements and choose an approach for deploying applications. As the project was planned to be highly loaded and available for customers all over the world, it was important to consider all possible scaling scenarios, the processes of handling orders in the queue, and resources downscaling in order to control the budget for the cloud infrastructure. Also, it was necessary to implement a GitOps approach with full version control to minimize manual work and the ability to roll back quickly.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

The team consists of the Head of DevOps and Lead DevOps Engineers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

In close cooperation with our technical team, the IT Outposts team prepared an architecture plan and deployed infrastructure. A declarative description of all processes will minimize the risks connected with the availability of the project in production. They organized the most comfortable CI / CD flow, taking into account the nuances of the project's microservices, minimized the “human factor” and the risks of production errors. Flexible auto-scaling of cluster resources was also provided.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

IT Outposts experts and our core project team members hit it off right away. The cooperation is effective and fruitful.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The most impressive factor is their level of responsibility and commitment to the project goals. The experts of IT Outposts provide high-level DevOps consulting on key architectural solutions and always strive to find the most beneficial approach to any issue.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

For now, we don't see any areas of improvement. In case we have something in mind, we always share the ideas with the team.