We Architect Next Generation Systems
Cascadeo's team has decades of experience designing, implementing, and operating mission-critical server infrastructure. Throughout our careers, we have worked on systems serving hundreds of thousands of users and across dozens of industries. We use a combination of academic expertise and real-world experience in designing truly exceptional, cost-effective solutions.
Our specific areas of expertise include:
Virtualized server and datacenter infrastructure
Virtualized server and datacenter infrastructure: We are experts on VMware virtualization. We have experience with Xen, Microsoft Virtual Server, and Amazon Web Services. From managing datacenter virtualization projects to building self-scaling systems, Cascadeo is ready to help with projects of any size.
High availability clusters
High availability clusters: Having worked in the telco space and hosting industry since its inception, our senior engineers have extensive experience designing fault-tolerant clusters. More importantly, we work with our clients directly to design solutions that meet their availability, scalability, and budgetary needs. Trade-offs are a fact of life in complex systems architecture, and we're good at helping make them cooperatively and collaboratively.
Open source server applications
Open source server applications: We work daily with with MySQL, Postfix, qmail, Request Tracker, MediaWiki, JIRA, Zenoss, BIND, Apache, and are generally big fans of Ubuntu Linux. We host one of the largest MediaWiki and JIRA sites on the Internet, and have lead the effort to scale these applications for our client as their needs grew.
Network management systems
Network management systems: From Nagios to Solar Winds, from OpenView to Big Brother, we're encountered just about every network monitoring and management system known to humanity. In our opinion, the Zenoss network management system is an excellent option for most customers monitoring dozens to hundreds of elements. We have done large-scale Zenoss deployments for telephone companies, hosting environments, datacenters, and use it ourselves as our core Network Management System.
Amazon Web Services
Amazon Web Services: Cascadeo believes that ownership and operation of datacenter infrastructure will increasingly shift towards companies like Amazon and away from the companies using those resources. In other words, we think Amazon Web Services are fantastic and make use of them whenever we possibly can. From S3 to EC2, from SQS to the new load balancing service, we're AWS advocates and users. (There are many cases where AWS isn't a perfect fit, and in those cases, we help clients design in-house alternatives or operate custom infrastructure tailored to the client's need.)
Managed Private Datacenter Infrastructure
Managed Private Datacenter Infrastructure: When we talk to people about our managed systems practice, we sometimes use the analogy of finely crafted cabinetry vs. the particle-board stuff at Home Depot. The reality of the situation is that the overwhelming majority of the market is served well by the Home Depot product, and we have no real desire to compete with companies that large to sell commodity services. Instead, we view ourselves in the same way a design-build remodel firm might -- we meet with our clients, discuss their objectives, design a solution, and (with their blessing) turn that solution in to reality. We don't just host websites. We design and operate end-to-end systems which drive websites too large, too complex, or too important to risk on commodity web hosting infrastructure. This is done in a collaborative and customized fashion with each client. In short, it's the difference between fine custom craftsmanship and particle board. (And in cases where we think particle board is the right answer for a client, we know how to work efficiently with the best of the best in the commodity hosting space.)
Transparency
Transparency: We don't keep secrets from our clients. We are completely transparent with our operations. If you have a question about how or why we do things the way we do, we will answer it. We are proud of our infrastructure and team, and welcome your interest in how we do what we do.
We do operations your way
We do operations your way: Unlike commodity hosting providers, we offer custom infrastructure, custom escalation procedures, completely private server infrastructure, highly customized security, and even dedicated VPN access to the infrastructure we operate for clients. We engineer that same degree of elegance in to systems we design for clients, and make sure that the "run book" that comes with those systems is written from that mindset.
