Comic Relief, a charitable organization, took advantage of cloud computing to handle large demands during a recent charity event. In the process, they may have provided valuable insights for companies considering a switch to a cloud computing environment.
Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day took place on March 18. During the annual event, the organization received a massive amount of traffic and donations thanks to a televised fundraiser. To handle the large amount of traffic, Comic Relief was unable to use its own servers; it needed a more scalable option that could adjust for a high period of traffic (which included a great deal of mobile traffic) and then fall back to keep costs down. Flexibility was the most important aspect of the company’s IT approach surrounding Red Nose Day.
Moving to a cloud was an obvious and appropriate choice for the charity. By using an Oracle and Java stack, Comic Relief could handle the enormous traffic that makes the organization one of the top destinations on the Web for the days surrounding its Red Nose Day every year.
A hosting company was used for the cloud computing venture, although Comic Relief worked with dozens of volunteers from the IT departments of major companies like Oracle to ensure seamless traffic handling.
Comic Relief was able to establish an appropriate architecture to handle traffic and receive its annual donations. A major focus was on security, as the company’s donations were handled by the cloud and needed to overcome obstacles associated with a third-party data handler.
Nevertheless, Comic Relief’s experience shows that cloud computing can be a viable technology under tremendous strain and has provided insight for hosting companies and IT departments around the world.
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