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For Online Learning Innovator Quizlet, Academic Performance and Web Performance Go Hand in Hand
Technology Category
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing
Applicable Industries
- Education
Applicable Functions
- Business Operation
Use Cases
- Edge Computing & Edge Intelligence
- Real-Time Location System (RTLS)
Services
- Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
- Data Science Services
The Challenge
Quizlet, an educational website, was experiencing exponential growth in its user base, putting extraordinary pressure on the company to keep pace with the growing demand. The company was expecting to welcome 150 million visitors over the next 12 months, many of whom were students who expected fast website performance. In addition to faster page loads, data reliability was a major consideration for Quizlet, as users were uploading large amounts of data every hour. The company needed a reliable storage system that was available all the time, with no unplanned outages. Quizlet knew that it needed a first-rate cloud provider that could scale quickly and easily to meet user demand. In order to keep the site running optimally, the company also needed superior analytics for quick diagnosis of performance issues in near real time.
About The Customer
Quizlet is one of the largest educational websites in the world. Founded in 2005 by a 15-year-old student, the site now attracts over 12 million unique visitors every month, doubling its user base every year for six consecutive years. Quizlet does not have a pre-determined curriculum; instead, it designs powerful, easy-to-use software that empowers students of all ages to pursue self-defined learning goals. The site offers more than 15 million study sets for users and hosts more than 1.2 million study sessions every day. Supported by ads, Quizlet offers its vast library of content at no charge to students and teachers. In August 2012, the company released an iPhone app, which attracted more than 1 million downloads in a matter of months, making Quizlet the second most popular free education app in the U.S. iPhone store.
The Solution
Quizlet turned to a combination of first-rate vendors to optimize its cloud environment. The company chose Joyent as its cloud provider for its ability to provide up-to-the-minute data on performance issues across the network and application monitoring software that could pinpoint the source of any problem within Quizlet’s increasingly complex code base. With Joyent cloud services deployed on a robust ZFS layer, Quizlet had access to a powerful suite of network monitoring tools. To achieve comprehensive visibility across all aspects of its environment, the company also needed an application monitoring solution that would diagnose problems at the code level. This is where New Relic came in. The combination of DTrace and New Relic provided Quizlet with the ultimate toolset for quickly identifying, isolating, and correcting performance issues.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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