Shifting business focus to online translation services, Straker needed a cloud hosting platform with greater computing power and the flexibility to scale as needed. Deploying a VMware vSphere on IBM Cloud® solution, the company gained scalable computing capacity to power high-performance service delivery at a fraction of the cost.
Shifting its business model to deliver online translation services, Straker Translations sought a cloud infrastructure solution offering greater computing power and the flexibility to scale as needed.
With the VMware vSphere on IBM Cloud platform, the company gained computing capacity to power high-performance delivery without compromising on scalability or control.
Founded in 1999 to develop and deliver a content management system (CMS) for enterprises, Straker shifted its focus as market demand for translation services increased. Building on the exceptional technical capabilities offered by its CMS, the company restructured its core technology to launch an online translation platform.
In transforming its business model, Straker soon discovered that the supporting infrastructure for its new offering was costly and time-consuming. “A lot of overhead and resources are needed to maintain enterprise-level applications across different operating platforms,” says Indy Nagpal, the company’s Chief Platform Officer. “From a business point of view, this wasn’t the right space for us to be in, given the potential our software had.”
Exploring alternatives to traditional hosting infrastructure, Straker became an early adopter of cloud technology, running its software on virtual private servers (VPS). The shift helped alleviate its IT maintenance and management burden, but the company found its cloud platform lacking in computing power and scalability. “We were paying a lot for the kind of performance we were getting,” says Nagpal. “Essentially, the technology wasn’t delivering what we wanted and it would have been far too expensive to scale up.”
Implementing a VMware vSphere on IBM Cloud platform, Straker gained computing capacity to power high-performance delivery without compromising on scalability or control. The solution includes robust IBM Cloud Bare Metal Servers to provide single-tenant hosting of the company’s production workloads, IBM Cloud Virtual Servers to support back-end tooling and a VMware vSphere virtualization layer to easily manage resources.
In addition to the five bare metal servers powering its standard production workloads, Straker uses a sixth to support a higher-end security offering for customers that require specific location restrictions for those accessing the system.
To further enhance its infrastructure’s resiliency, Straker deployed IBM Cloud Block Storage units to back up its virtualized workloads. Plus, the company added IBM Cloud Advanced Support to its solution, implementing a highly responsive support structure for its IBM Cloud environment.
With IBM Cloud technology powering its offering, Straker can shift its operational focus from managing underlying infrastructure to delivering on its core business objectives, which include driving down costs for online translation services. “If we were to run this as a VPS-based offering, our costs would be at least three times as high,” says Nagpal. “And even at three times the cost, we wouldn’t be able to have the same flexibility.”
In addition to providing the cost-effective computing power Straker requires, the VMware vSphere on IBM Cloud platform offers performance it can rely on. With IBM Cloud Bare Metal Servers hosting its online customer portal, the company supports uninterrupted delivery of its translation capabilities.
IBM Cloud plays a vital role in Straker’s continuing success—including its initial public offering on the Australian Stock Exchange—by freeing the company to focus on what matters. “Essentially, our DNA is software development,” says Nagpal. “With IBM Cloud, we can maintain focus and build what our business needs require.”
Launched in 1999 as a software company offering an enterprise-level content management system, Straker (link resides outside of ibm.com) evolved into a services provider focused on delivering fast, accurate and cost-effective translations. Today, the company is one of the world’s leading translation services firms and works with approximately 50,000 global customers, including both personal and corporate accounts. Straker is headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand and employs over 180 people in 17 office locations worldwide.
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