Startup IaaS: Collaboration with the PickPoint Postcard Network
Most recently, we shared a case transfer of the IT infrastructure of the Hotels.ru project to the cloud of our IaaS provider. Today we will look at another example of cooperation with the Russian service - we are talking about the automated delivery service PickPoint .
Russian eCommerce is a very young field, which is only gaining momentum. In this situation, there are advantages and a number of negative points that the buyer faces.
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For example, one of the problems is the timely and affordable delivery of orders. Courier services do not always boast the accuracy of the arrival of their employees and often inflate prices, and the most ordinary mail is not always reliable and in most cases is too slow to please the buyer of a modern online store.
PickPoint provides a service that solves these problems through a network of postamats — special terminals with automated storage cells, from which it is possible to pick up purchases on your own at any convenient time.
The development of such a network is a topic for a separate discussion, but one of the findings here is the placement of devices in shopping centers, where there is the majority of people living in one or another part of the city. This approach allows you to easily pick up and online purchase during the usual grocery shopping.
PickPoint decided to take advantage of international experience and transfer developments from other countries to Russia. Expert opinion fell on the network of postamats in Estonia. They seemed to the team to be easy to use and did not require complex infrastructure.
Postamat is built on a Windows Embedded based computer, a VPN router and a controller for opening the desired storage cell. For fast processing of cash payments and instant delivery of orders, stability of the connection is crucial.
At the beginning of work on the project (2010), the team decided to use the borrowed infrastructure, understanding the features of the business itself. As the network of postamats grows from 115 to more than 500, maintaining and updating its own IT infrastructure has become too burdensome.
As a result, it was decided to use our IaaS-infrastructure , which helped not only in terms of economy, but also ensured the stability of the work and the constant availability of the system.
Constant optimization has led us to the fact that PickPoint and I decided in time to reconsider the layout of the IT infrastructure that the company used. The fact is that the PickPoint office is located in Moscow, but at the initial stage of the work, the capacities were rented in St. Petersburg.
The solution was found very quickly by transferring the virtual infrastructure to our Moscow cloud. This maneuver was made possible thanks to the backup mechanism and the vCloud Connector - we talked more about working with this tool here ).
In the future, the team moved to optimize the database - transfer to SQL-2014. In this situation, PickPoint became interested in creating a backup site (DRS).
Today, PickPoint is no longer a startup with foreign hardware, which cannot be scaled without constant monitoring by staff specialists and capital expenditures. For 5 years of our cooperation, the project team managed to take all the best of what the virtual infrastructure can offer and become the market leader in automated issuance points.
About company and cooperation
Russian eCommerce is a very young field, which is only gaining momentum. In this situation, there are advantages and a number of negative points that the buyer faces.
')
For example, one of the problems is the timely and affordable delivery of orders. Courier services do not always boast the accuracy of the arrival of their employees and often inflate prices, and the most ordinary mail is not always reliable and in most cases is too slow to please the buyer of a modern online store.
PickPoint provides a service that solves these problems through a network of postamats — special terminals with automated storage cells, from which it is possible to pick up purchases on your own at any convenient time.
The development of such a network is a topic for a separate discussion, but one of the findings here is the placement of devices in shopping centers, where there is the majority of people living in one or another part of the city. This approach allows you to easily pick up and online purchase during the usual grocery shopping.
PickPoint decided to take advantage of international experience and transfer developments from other countries to Russia. Expert opinion fell on the network of postamats in Estonia. They seemed to the team to be easy to use and did not require complex infrastructure.
After the start of work on the introduction of the system, it became clear that the matter would not be limited to one localization - in Europe, everyone has already paid cards for a long time, and in Russia, buyers prefer cash.
Therefore, we had to build in the postamats a banknote receiving unit and modify the software accordingly.
- PickPoint command
Postamat is built on a Windows Embedded based computer, a VPN router and a controller for opening the desired storage cell. For fast processing of cash payments and instant delivery of orders, stability of the connection is crucial.
At the beginning of work on the project (2010), the team decided to use the borrowed infrastructure, understanding the features of the business itself. As the network of postamats grows from 115 to more than 500, maintaining and updating its own IT infrastructure has become too burdensome.
As a result, it was decided to use our IaaS-infrastructure , which helped not only in terms of economy, but also ensured the stability of the work and the constant availability of the system.
At the moment of rapid growth, the pluses of the cloud were fully appreciated - for us, this is primarily a flexible scaling. Even when it is impossible to predict the increase in load and buy it in reserve, you can always “build up the muscles” of virtual systems as needed in a couple of clicks. [...]
In recent years, we have seriously worked on the availability of systems. There are two application servers with IIS, and they work in a cluster with an external balancer. The database server is backed up with vSphere HA, and the WAN connections are now duplicated.
- PickPoint Team
Problem solving
Constant optimization has led us to the fact that PickPoint and I decided in time to reconsider the layout of the IT infrastructure that the company used. The fact is that the PickPoint office is located in Moscow, but at the initial stage of the work, the capacities were rented in St. Petersburg.
The solution was found very quickly by transferring the virtual infrastructure to our Moscow cloud. This maneuver was made possible thanks to the backup mechanism and the vCloud Connector - we talked more about working with this tool here ).
In the future, the team moved to optimize the database - transfer to SQL-2014. In this situation, PickPoint became interested in creating a backup site (DRS).
We are also going to experiment with thin clients and VDI on camera sites. We now have several sorting centers with 24/7 work, and a simple single workplace can easily result in 2,000 raw packages per night.
To minimize such emergency situations, night engineers work at the sites, but such a decision is debatable in terms of costs. Therefore, there is a thought to transfer all workplaces to the cloud, and “in the fields” leave only thin clients, in which there is nothing to break (and if it breaks, the repair is not more difficult than replacing the cartridge in the printer).
We consider CITRIX XenDesktop as a specific product, experiment and try to work with it. Of course, an interesting option
- PickPoint Team
Conclusion
Today, PickPoint is no longer a startup with foreign hardware, which cannot be scaled without constant monitoring by staff specialists and capital expenditures. For 5 years of our cooperation, the project team managed to take all the best of what the virtual infrastructure can offer and become the market leader in automated issuance points.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/262859/
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