The world is becoming more connected every day and the IoT (Internet of Things) is accelerating the pace of innovation in the smart technology world. Innovative companies like ThinkEE are facilitating the expansion of IoT adoption in industries from energy to customer service and Jelastic is proud to help ThinkEE in their cloud journey. We interviewed ThinkEE co-CEO and Engineer Jean-Charles Fosse to learn more about their experience of moving from traditional hosting to the cloud, migrating from VMs (Virtual Machines) to Containers, as well as the reasons of such shift and choice of Hidora as Jelastic cloud hosting provider with data centers in Switzerland.
ThinkEE is a Swiss company founded in 2017 to help SMEs leverage the power of the IoT. ThinkEE provides a highly modular IoT platform that can integrate with a wide variety of data sources, from connected objects and cloud servers to cloud-based databases and file servers.
Using ThinkEE's platform, any company can build an application that uses IoT devices. They work with organizations in diverse fields from energy monitoring, technology and equipment maintenance, customer analysis and more - without the need for an internal IT team.
ThinkEE's flagship product is EEat. EEat combines a mobile application and IoT sensors to help food processing industries and restaurants to manage their HACCP plan (Hygiene regulatory obligations).
What software and applications do you use? Why did you choose them and how do they address your needs?
Our platform is based on microservices which are built using Python and Javascript. They communicate with each other using MQTT and RabbitMQ brokers. NGINX is used as our entry point which automatically manages SSL certificates thanks to the Jelastic add-on. We also run different databases (Redis, PostgreSQL and Timescale) to store our application data.
We manage our microservices, databases and brokers with Kubernetes, Docker Swarm and a set of Jelastic certified containers. Moving to containers was a big step forward in our technology development and deployment process. It saves us a lot of time on each deployment and it simplifies the DevOps pipeline. Containers enable us to deploy and scale our platform as needed.
What are your and your customers’ requirements for cloud hosting?
We require our hosting partners to be based in Switzerland, easy to do business with and delivering the highest level of reliability.
Our goal is to spend more time on our product development and continually advancing our technology expertise rather than managing our cloud services. This is why it was really important for us to be able to control every aspect of our cloud service in a simplified way.
What hosting solutions did you previously use? What challenges have you faced along the way?
At first, we used our own machines on which we deployed a Docker Swarm. As you may expect, it lacked the reliability we needed, so we began renting virtual machines before moving to Hidora and Jelastic PaaS.
Managing our machines took too much time and required resources and knowledge we didn't have. Owing our machines vs using a cloud provider didn’t distinguish us from our competitors. So, we came to the conclusion that the smartest strategic path forward would be to leverage external resources since this isn’t a core area of expertise within our team.
Why did you choose Jelastic PaaS? What results can you share?
We chose to use Jelastic PaaS for its ease of use, scalability and performance. It enables us to increase resources using only a few clicks. Moreover we only pay for what we use which is a great way to achieve scalability without wasting any resources or any budget along the way Jelastic exceeded our expectations in every way.
With what Jelastic hosting provider do you work? Why did you choose this provider?
We are working with Hidora, a Swiss provider of Jelastic PaaS. We chose Hidora for their proximity, for the services they offer and for their experience. They provide highly valuable hands-on experience with the Jelastic platform, as well as make it easy and fast to deploy our application on Jelastic.
Why did you decide to go with a local service provider? What is the role of personal and sensitive data regulations in your business?
This is a customers’ requirement to store data in Switzerland. Therefore, Hidora is the perfect fit for a local partner with a high-performance solution. Swiss know-how is always considered secure, high quality and reliable. For our Swiss customers it is only logical to store their data in the country they do business in. And the Swiss values of stability and integrity makes them more comfortable with ensuring data confidentiality and security. This is valid for our international customers as well.
How has the Jelastic pay-per-use pricing model benefited you?
Jelastic’s unique pay-per-use is a great model for us as it enables us to utilize our budget only for what we use and to optimize our investment effortlessly. Our revenues and cloud hosting now grow together. Since we began using Jelastic, we realized a myriad of benefits that come from using all our resources with optimized efficiency, and not paying for anything we’re not using. This makes a tremendous difference to our bottom line at the end of each quarter.
What are the top 3 benefits you’ve gained with Jelastic PaaS?
Jelastic’s ease-of-use saves us countless hours that can now be focused on innovation and client service. Pay-per-use pricing model has saved us significantly in terms of our budget. And the scalability we’ve experienced with Jelastic is industry-leading. It allows us to rapidly meet customer demands, even if those demands are dynamic. With Jelastic we’re able to operate in a much faster and more flexible manner than ever before.
If your business operates in the fast-growing IoT landscape, and you need cloud services that are easy to use, cost-efficient, and provide local state-of-the-art data centers, then try Jelastic PaaS at one of the many available service providers we partner with or request private cloud installation.
