Case Study
About NT Connect
Starting as an international technology developer, NT Connect recently launched NOOZ.AI and netTalk Connect. NT Connect launched their residential phone service with the aim of providing international customers with unlimited in-network calling worldwide.
During the past five years, NT Connect have embarked on a range of new ventures such as entering into the maritime space through their subsidiary netTALK Maritime, allowing crew and passengers a communication system on cruise ships. In October 2022, NT Connect launched their new aggregator application, NOOZ.AI, which utilizes an AI-powered language to remind readers of the media's influence found in articles.
The problem
From inception, NT Connect positioned themselves in the industry as a telecommunications company operating from their own data center, holding a large number of servers. This allowed them to provide residential and app based phone services with a public switch network so their users could make calls with others on a local and international basis.
Over time, they began to re-architect their system to make better use of cloud-native technologies and processes. This allowed them to use the same hardware with the addition of Kubernetes which operated off bare metal. Whilst NT Connect were able to utilize the hardware that was already in place, they realized the need to also look for cloud solutions in the future. They decided to use Civo for their new aggregator application, NOOZ.AI.
At this point, it was clear that NT Connect needed to move to a hybrid solution both managing their own infrastructure and work with a cloud provider that would allow them to meet their four core objectives:
Reliability
As NT Connect utilizes AI-driven technology, their use of Kubernetes is different from the typical user, requiring reactive and responsive assistance for any issues and questions.
Cost-effective
Having already established their own data center that their system operates on, NT Connect needed a cost-effective Kubernetes provider which makes their switch worthwhile.
Reduce hands-on time
NT Connect required a cloud provider who could maintain their hardware allowing for them to focus on their 'secret sauce' rather than worrying about maintaining basic infrastructure.
Practical next step
As their offerings are constantly evolving, NT Connect requires access to current Kubernetes features and the latest stable versions to help improve their performance.
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How Civo helped
NT Connect started testing out Civo's services back when they were in beta as they were looking for a specialized service to support their growth, which was not possible with traditional hyperscalers clouds.
Garry Paxinos, CTO of NT Connect, said “Civo is very easy-to-use, with effective mechanisms to use Kubernetes and to spin up our clusters.”
“They are very easy to leverage with both launching clusters and the usability side of things.”
With the change to a Kubernetes environment for NT Connect, it is crucial that they are able to receive timely support to help solve problems and create solutions for the tasks they are working on. Civo's exclusive Slack channel is designed for users to learn more about Kubernetes, get help, and keep up-to-date with new developments at Civo. Kubernetes support is crucial which is why Civo has industry experts supporting users with any problems / questions that they may have.
“Civo are not just reactive to our problems, they are ahead of our problems - when we have questions or concerns they are very quick in response and support us to find out what the issue is. It helps us to see if what we are trying to do isn't working right or if there is an issue with the system.”
An essential part of problem solving for NT Connect is having access to the latest features and versions of Kubernetes to allow for improved performance. Civo is focused on quickly deploying apps allowing users to select from 80+ marketplace apps including databases, CI/CD, monitoring, security and more.
“We use Civo for production as well as quickly spinning up test clusters to try out new extensions and configurations. This has also allowed us to stage clusters for testing development releases outside of production.”
“The training materials on the Civo website and their webinars are valuable to us learning more about the platform.”
As NT Connect already has their own established data center, it was essential for them to have predictable billing making their switch worthwhile. Civo focuses on value for money and transparency, with no hidden costs allowing our users to get prices up to 75% lower than the big 3 hyperscalers.
"Cost has been a major issue for us. We already have the hardware and infrastructure required, meaning we are constantly reviewing our TCO/OpEx for on-prem versus cloud. Civo is the first cloud provider that has allowed us to get closer to parity with on-prem costs.”
“We use Civo for production as well as quickly spinning up test clusters to try out new extensions and configurations. This has also allowed us to stage clusters for testing development releases outside of production”
Garry Paxinos, CTO at NT Connect, summarized: “It has been a pleasure working with Civo, they have been extremely helpful and responsive when we have any questions. Civo has been effective, efficient, and simple - they are easy to use and that makes it easy for us to spin up a cluster when we need.”
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Products and tools used
Since switching to a cloud-native infrastructure, NT Connect have utilized the following Civo tools and products to aid their development.
Civo Kubernetes
Load Balancers
Storage
Tutorials
