Rackspace Technology helps Awaze achieve record performance with AWS project

Rhea-AI Summary

Rackspace Technology (NASDAQ: RXT) supports Awaze, Europe's leading managed vacation rentals group, in achieving remarkable growth during a record year. The transition to Amazon Web Services (AWS) has allowed Awaze to handle unprecedented traffic surges, especially following UK's easing of lockdowns. Their investment has led to a 30% reduction in web session costs. With auto-scaling capabilities, Awaze can efficiently manage fluctuating demand, enhancing user experience. The ongoing migration to cloud services promises flexibility and scalability, positioning Awaze for further growth.

Positive

• Record year for Awaze with increased demand post-pandemic.
• 30% reduction in web session costs due to optimized cloud resources.
• Successful handling of 400% traffic surge during peak booking times.
• Migration of applications to AWS cloud ensures scalability and flexibility.

Negative

• None.

LONDON, Nov. 09, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Europe’s leading managed vacation rentals group, Awaze, says its support from Rackspace Technology™ (NASDAQ: RXT), the end-to-end multicloud technology services company, is already paying dividends as it celebrates a record year and looks forward to further growth.

The self-catering giant, which offers 90,000 accommodation choices in 36 countries to more than six million holidaymakers a year, has seen unprecedented surges in demand over the last 12 months thanks to the rising popularity of domestic breaks in the wake of the global pandemic.

Awaze has only been able to meet the huge volumes of traffic to its Hoseasons and cottages.com websites at points this year due to its transition to Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud from an on-premises environment.

James Baird, Technical Operations Director at Awaze said: “Our partnership with Rackspace Technology has allowed us to optimise our cloud footprint and make it elastic at every layer and across every point of the customer and owner journey. This means it seamlessly expands and contracts in line with volatile patterns of demand, maintaining robustly consistent response times and performance whilst also being highly commercially optimised.”

Tightly aligning compute resources to demand as part of the multi-million pound investment has led to a 30% reduction in web session costs.

“Prior to this investment we had to maintain compute resources at peak levels most of the time,” Baird added. “We already had multi-dimensional cycles influencing patterns of demand, including time of day and time of year, but the pandemic completely disrupted these resulting in huge spikes and troughs. Auto-scaling means we no longer have to waste resource to cope with market volatility and can service demand in the most efficient, cost-effective way possible whilst maintaining performance and delivering a great experience for our guests and owners.”

The system’s operating effectiveness was given one of its toughest tests on February 21st this year when web traffic increased 400% in the minutes after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s route out of lockdown address to Parliament. Traffic peaked at one booking and nearly 100 searches every second, with the number of CPUs powering the company’s guest and owner portals going from less than 100 to more than 1,200 in less than six hours.

Simon Bennett, CTO, EMEA at Rackspace Technology, said: “Awaze has been a valued customer for over 12 years and we’re proud to have been part of its digital evolution. With auto-scaling and flexibility being key components of public cloud environments, Awaze can benefit from increased innovation and agility in support of their own business objectives.”

Awaze is currently using Rackspace Technology’s flexible and innovative elastic engineering service to migrate all its remaining applications hosted in non-cloud data centres into the AWS cloud. This will deliver unparalleled flexibility, near limitless scalability and performance and enable the company to continue its growth journey, both organically and through M&A activity.

For more information about Awaze visit www.awaze.com. 

Rackspace Technology
Rackspace Technology is a leading end-to-end multi-cloud technology services company. We can design, build and operate our customers’ cloud environments across all major technology platforms, irrespective of technology stack or deployment model. We partner with our customers at every stage of their cloud journey, enabling them to modernize applications, build new products and adopt innovative technologies.

Awaze 
Awaze is Europe’s leading managed vacation rentals and holiday resorts business. Home to specialist self-catering brands cottages.com, Hoseasons, James Villa Holidays and Novasol, the company provides everyday amazing holiday experiences to more than six million guests each year, with 90,000 places to stay across 36 countries. www.awaze.com 

Media Contact
Devika Mistry
EMEA Rackspace Technology Corporate Communications
Devika.mistry@rackspace.co.uk

FAQ

What recent developments involve Rackspace Technology (RXT) and Awaze?

Rackspace Technology is supporting Awaze in its growth journey following a record year, transitioning to AWS for enhanced service delivery.

How has Rackspace Technology improved Awaze's operations?

By optimizing cloud resources, Rackspace enabled Awaze to reduce web session costs by 30% and manage peak traffic effectively.

What impact did the lockdown easing have on Awaze's web traffic?

After the UK Prime Minister's address regarding lockdown easing, Awaze experienced a 400% increase in web traffic.

What are the future plans for Awaze regarding cloud services?

Awaze is migrating its remaining applications to AWS, which will enhance flexibility and scalability for future growth.