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N-iX > Case Studies > Better scalability and faster time-to-market for m3connect
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Better scalability and faster time-to-market for m3connect

Technology Category
  • Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Middleware, SDKs & Libraries
  • Networks & Connectivity - 5G
Applicable Industries
  • Buildings
  • Construction & Infrastructure
Applicable Functions
  • Product Research & Development
  • Quality Assurance
Use Cases
  • Leasing Finance Automation
  • Material Handling Automation
Services
  • Testing & Certification
The Challenge

m3connect, one of the largest wireless internet service providers in Europe, faced a significant challenge in transforming their existing solution to increase scalability and adapt to new business cases. The company, which specializes in digital signage, guest infotainment systems, VoIP, VoD, and location-based services, needed to redesign its architecture to enable in-flight portability for T-Mobile users and support a growing customer base. They also had to leverage new business opportunities discovered within an extensive partner network, from product deployment for local businesses to collaboration with global commercial airlines that provide on-board services. Over 300 epics/stories needed to be processed in the backlog to meet the client’s airline requests. The company had a high-level concept of the transformed solution but needed technical help in selecting technologies and designing the architecture.

About The Customer

m3connect is one of the biggest wireless internet service providers in Europe, with offices in Aachen, Karlsruhe, Berlin, San Francisco, Sibenik and serving customers in more than 20 countries. The company specializes in digital signage, guest infotainment systems, VoIP, VoD, and location-based services. It also sets up a private 5G network core for leading industrial companies such as the BMW Group. The company needed to transform its existing solution to increase scalability and make it suitable for new business cases, including enabling in-flight portability for T-Mobile users and supporting a growing customer base.

The Solution

The N-iX team helped m3connect perform a technical assessment, choose a new tech stack, design a plan for migration, and adopt a microservices architecture. They started the project with a Discovery phase to identify key challenges, choose the most suitable architecture design, and prepare a roadmap for the solution implementation. They performed a technical audit of the current architecture and designed a backlog. To match the scalability and maintainability requirements, they designed a new system which required migration from monolith to microservices. They also improved DevOps processes and built a test automation framework from scratch to improve time-to-market. The team suggested a new tech stack (Java 11, Spring Boot, Kubernetes) to reach the short time to value/market, enable cost-effective development, improve operations and support.

Operational Impact

  • As a result of the Discovery phase, N-iX experts provided a high-level roadmap of architecture transformation and technology modernization to support m3connect’s growing customer base and enable in-flight connectivity. They also implemented the Agile methodology and improved technical documentation. The specialists built a test automation framework from scratch and covered all microservices with automated tests to ensure the solution meets the high quality requirements. The new architecture enabled unlimited scalability and prepared a baseline for 5G core use-case. All changes and new functionality were documented to enable effective knowledge retention. Detailed estimates of costs, resources, and efforts required to handle workload within the first quarter were prepared, which ensured efficient budget planning.

Quantitative Benefit

  • Over 300 epics/stories processed in the backlog to meet the client’s airline requests.

  • Designed a new system which required migration from monolith to microservices.

  • Built a test automation framework from scratch.

Related Case Studies.

Case Study
IoT System for Tunnel Construction
The Zenitaka Corporation ('Zenitaka') has two major business areas: its architectural business focuses on structures such as government buildings, office buildings, and commercial facilities, while its civil engineering business is targeted at structures such as tunnels, bridges and dams. Within these areas, there presented two issues that have always persisted in regard to the construction of mountain tunnels. These issues are 'improving safety" and "reducing energy consumption". Mountain tunnels construction requires a massive amount of electricity. This is because there are many kinds of electrical equipment being used day and night, including construction machinery, construction lighting, and ventilating fan. Despite this, the amount of power consumption is generally not tightly managed. In many cases, the exact amount of power consumption is only ascertained when the bill from the power company becomes available. Sometimes, corporations install demand-monitoring equipment to help curb the maximum power demanded. However, even in these cases, the devices only allow the total volume of power consumption to be ascertained, or they may issue warnings to prevent the contracted volume of power from being exceeded. In order to tackle the issue of reducing power consumption, it was first necessary to obtain an accurate breakdown of how much power was being used in each particular area. In other words, we needed to be able to visualize the amount of power being consumed. Safety, was also not being managed very rigorously. Even now, tunnel construction sites often use a 'name label' system for managing entry into the work site. Specifically, red labels with white reverse sides that bear the workers' names on both sides are displayed at the tunnel work site entrance. The workers themselves then flip the name label to the appropriate side when entering or exiting from the work site to indicate whether or not they are working inside the tunnel at any given time. If a worker forgets to flip his or her name label when entering or exiting from the tunnel, management cannot be performed effectively. In order to tackle the challenges mentioned above, Zenitaka decided to build a system that could improve the safety of tunnel construction as well as reduce the amount of power consumed. In other words, this new system would facilitate a clear picture of which workers were working in each location at the mountain tunnel construction site, as well as which processes were being carried out at those respective locations at any given time. The system would maintain the safety of all workers while also carefully controlling the electrical equipment to reduce unnecessary power consumption. Having decided on the concept, our next concern was whether there existed any kind of robust hardware that would not break down at the construction work site, that could move freely in response to changes in the working environment, and that could accurately detect workers and vehicles using radio frequency identification (RFID). Given that this system would involve many components that were new to Zenitaka, we decided to enlist the cooperation of E.I.Sol Co., Ltd. ('E.I.Sol') as our joint development partner, as they had provided us with a highly practical proposal.
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