Fortunately, in 2019, IBM had launched a plan to migrate its event marketing systems—a disparate assortment of homegrown proprietary tools and vendor point solutions—to the RainFocus software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, hosted on IBM Cloud technologies. A scalable platform using IBM Cloud capabilities not only made a speedy transition to a virtual format possible, but also provided novel opportunities for innovation.
The cloud strategy for the platform was still right on target. RainFocus and IBM were in the midst of a phased rollout, initially running the platform in a hybrid environment on IBM Cloud and other cloud-hosted technologies, with plans to migrate fully to IBM Cloud in mid-2021.
At the time, RainFocus was using IBM Cloud for Kubernetes Service for the cloud implementation, enabling the company to take an industry-standard cloud-agnostic approach. It was also using IBM Cloud Object Storage to store the multitudinous assets required to run an IBM event, IBM Content Delivery Network to deliver those assets with speed and consistency, and IBM global load balancers to maintain high availability, hosting the platform in IBM data centers in Dallas and Washington, D.C.
With the cloud infrastructure in place, the two teams focused on reconfiguring the RainFocus platform to run an online event. The platform provides a remarkable set of features perfectly matched to IBM’s event marketing needs: a single, integrated interface; an open, scalable architecture; a user-friendly front-end; integration with IBM’s back-end systems; and robust reporting and analytics capabilities.
First, the teams restructured the conference around areas where digital events could do well—such as delivery of session-related content, skills development through technical education and labs, and networking opportunities.
From a technical perspective, the teams tackled such issues as how to collect attendee information at registration, track attendance and engagement, enable single sign-on and integrate the exchange of information between the platform and IBM back-end systems.
The challenge of scalability loomed large. Registrations typically occur somewhat predictably for physical events, gradually climbing in the weeks prior to opening day. But no one could anticipate a virtual event’s registration cadence and volume.
To prepare, RainFocus and IBM conducted scaling tests of the RainFocus platform’s registration features and its integrations into the IBM infrastructure. RainFocus created a lobby feature—a waiting room that kicked in when registrations reached a threshold—to handle overflow traffic, configuring it and conducting load tests to make sure it could meet demand.
And then, after 46 days, all was ready—and the true test began.