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Google Cloud Platform > Case Studies > Alcide: Leveraging Google Kubernetes Engine for Efficient Cloud-Native Security
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Alcide: Leveraging Google Kubernetes Engine for Efficient Cloud-Native Security

Technology Category
  • Analytics & Modeling - Machine Learning
  • Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms
Applicable Industries
  • Construction & Infrastructure
  • National Security & Defense
Applicable Functions
  • Maintenance
  • Product Research & Development
Use Cases
  • Cybersecurity
  • Tamper Detection
Services
  • Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
  • System Integration
The Challenge

Alcide, a cloud-native security leader, was facing challenges in securing complex and distributed cloud stacks for organizations. The modern cloud deployment was intricate with numerous moving parts and shifting parameters, making it difficult to operate and secure. The traditional security protocols were not sufficient for the evolving technology standards and the convenience of the cloud. Alcide aimed to provide a complete security solution specifically designed for cloud-based infrastructure, but the process of provisioning new clusters was manual and time-consuming, taking up to 2-3 days. This was a significant drain on their resources and time, which were already limited.

About The Customer

Alcide is a Tel Aviv-based information security firm and a leader in cloud-native security. Founded in 2016, the company empowers DevSecOps to continuously secure their growing Kubernetes deployments with continuous code-to-production enforcement of security policies. Alcide helps organizations secure their distributed and complex cloud stacks, which often consist of thousands of nodes. The company has quickly adopted an architecture based on Kubernetes, allowing its platform to scale up and down according to its needs. As a fast-growing company with limited resources, Alcide places a priority on efficiency.

The Solution

Alcide turned to Google Cloud to optimize its architecture. The core of the new system was Google Kubernetes Engine, which provided easy provisioning of new clusters and built-in maintenance tools. Alcide's developers created a deployment template that fit their needs, making the creation of new environments quick and simple. Alcide also used Container Registry to maintain its container images, Cloud Load Balancing to manage high volumes of traffic, and Stackdriver for logging each of its clusters. Google Cloud Identity & Access Management enabled Alcide to simplify its security while streamlining procedures with granular control of permissions and authentications. By the end of its migration period, Alcide was using Kubernetes Engine for its testing, development, and production environments.

Operational Impact

  • The adoption of Google Kubernetes Engine and Google Cloud has significantly improved Alcide's operational efficiency. The time taken to deploy new environments has been drastically reduced, enabling Alcide to scale its platform to accommodate large enterprise stacks. The use of Google's managed services has made maintaining and updating clusters much easier for Alcide, lifting much of the DevOps burden and allowing engineers to focus on more important business objectives. As Alcide continues to grow and work on new features, it is exploring new ways of making Google Cloud and Kubernetes even more efficient, such as the use of preemptible virtual machines in Kubernetes Engine to reduce costs.

Quantitative Benefit

  • Cut deployment time from 2 to 3 days to 20 minutes

  • Enabled the platform to accommodate large enterprise stacks with thousands of nodes and hundreds of thousands of workloads

  • Reduced the time to provision new clusters with easy-to-use templates in Google Kubernetes Engine

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