The Challenge
Paessler AG’s core business is the network monitoring software product Paessler PRTG. This software product monitors and classifies system conditions and compiles statistics from various hosts, such as switches, routers, servers and other devices and applications. Paessler’s goal was to replace the monolithic B2B shop system for selling PRTG software licences by developing an e-commerce platform based on microservices. The existing shop system with an outdated tech-stack restricted the options for further developing Paessler’s business model.
Modifications of existing functionalities as well as new features required considerable effort or simply could not be implemented. A large part of the available development resources had to be invested in maintaining the existing system and ensuring compliance with necessary security standards. Paessler brought experienced developers and architects from Avantgarde Labs into their own team to create the new e-commerce platform. They initially provided consulting for determining requirements, designing the architecture and selecting the appropriate tech-stack, and subsequently supported the quality-assured implementation.
The Avantgarde Labs solution
A microservice-based approach was taken to implement the new e-commerce platform in that the services to be developed for the customer were realized as separate modules. This meant the individual services could be adapted for the customer’s use cases and implemented both independently and more quickly. The following modules were developed for the new e-commerce platform:
- Licensing service with a licence warehouse
- Activation service for online activation
- Search service for high-performance searching and filtering by criteria
- AdminUI as an administrative interface for the customer licences
- Adapter service for the communication between their own backend and the Odoo sales platform that was used
Project results & customer benefits
With the e-commerce microservices implemented, the legacy e-commerce system can now be migrated gradually, which will lead to substantial performance increase in business processes. Many optimizations and features were also realized through the use of a modern tech-stack: existing potential security risks were completely eliminated, the maintainability of the services was simplified, the usability of the AdminUI for customer service now facilitates more efficiency, and search queries are more targeted and time-efficient. The microservice-based approach means that individual services can be easily developed further, resulting in faster time to market for new features and products, such as new types of licences.
"The uncomplicated integration of architects and developers from Avantgarde Labs in our team enabled us to significantly accelerate both the conceptualization and the development phases and to fill in important gaps in expertise. The additional colleagues integrated into our team seamlessly and immediately helped us bring immediate speed to new projects."
Ramon Wildfeuer
Development Team Lead
Paessler AG
Paessler AG
