Altravia

Founded in Rome in 2003, Altravia started life as an IT company, specialising in the development of open-source technologies –  supporting primary technological evolution and the progressive spread of the internet thanks to intensive research and development work carried out at the Terni site. Over the years, the company has consolidated its own position on the Italian and international markets, offering new technological and applied consultancy services, project coordination, the development of innovative web and marketing services, and the online sale of IT and Chamber of Commerce products.

Luca Scuriatti, CEO of Altravia, talked to us about the challenges they have faced as their activities have developed, and how these lead them to partner with OVHcloud to maximise availability, performance and efficiency.

The constant growth and transformation of the market and the growth of new technologies, applications and web services has allowed Altravia, in just a few years, to develop new competencies and offer innovative solutions in response to customer demands. Since 2013, with new incoming partners and a dedicated company structure, the company has expanded its activities to include the commercialisation of third-party products and services. These have been successfully integrated with the company’s traditional offering, thus reinforcing Altravia’s position on the market and leading to a notable increase in turnover. In fact, 70% of Altravia turnover now derives from these activities.

Altravia has created a series of advanced, privately-owned IT platforms that enable customers at all levels to deliver services (typically to the end-client) ranging from e-commerce to consultancy. One of their most notable projects has been the Italian Post Office site, realised in conjunction with the postal service to commercialise services such as telegrams, recorded delivery and postal products, offering large-scale mailing services across Italy. Another major project has been a site reselling Infocert services, which offers (also via the Chamber of Commerce site) public utility services, including the activation of certified e-mail inboxes, digital signatures and certified company registration.

“OVHcloud has proven itself to be the most reliable and available cloud provider on the market. We were therefore convinced to migrate all our services to their Private Cloud infrastructure straightaway.”

To achieve the required standard of performance, Altravia required a new, secure, reliable and flexible infrastructure, to which all its services could be migrated.

Key elements when choosing the OVHcloud infrastructure were flexibility and reliability. Flexibility, because the sites managed by Altravia regularly experience access ‘spikes’ caused by deadlines and promotional activities, and it is important for service to be guaranteed at all times. And reliability because, for e-commerce applications, any service interruptions can potentially have a direct, negative effect on turnover.

Altravia is now utilising a dedicated infrastructure based on the OVHcloud Private Cloud, consisting of 101 virtual machines. The company’s activities generate an intense and constant flow of traffic (typically 9Tbps). The service, developed by OVHcloud with VMware technology effortlessly accommodates this, combining the scalability of the cloud with the power of 100% dedicated hardware.

The virtual machines are managed internally by the Altravia team, while OVHcloud is responsible for maintenance and hardware updates. The company immediately appreciated the efficiency and availability of the OVHcloud infrastructure and the problem-solving capacity of the technical support team, who are always ready to respond to requests in a timely manner.

Since Altravia is directly involved in managing e-commerce activities and clients’ personal details, arrangements for managing personal data also played a major role in the choice. The transparency guaranteed when treating personal data and also in relation to the application of GDPR was very much appreciated. In fact, OVHcloud was one of the companies that contributed to the creation of CISPE (Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe), the association responsible for drawing up a code of conduct to promote the correct application of the GDPR by IaaS providers.

Since Altravia partnered with OVHcloud, it has been able to focus more on its own core activities, operating through a nimble and scalable infrastructure that guarantees maximum availability and continuity of service at all times.

The company’s activities are intense and constantly growing – in the first trimester of 2018, approx. 25,000 orders were processed.  The speed and flexibility guaranteed by OVHcloud are key components that will allow Altravia to increase the resources present in their Private Cloud simply, quickly and securely, as their requirements evolve.

Besides the company’s two historic sites in Italy, at Rome and Terni, Altravia has recently opened a site in London, mainly dedicated to direct communication and marketing activities, but also the development of new initiatives in the UK market, which will surely lead to the internationalisation of their cloud infrastructure.

“It is key for us to be able to commit to a robust and secure technology which allows us to offer efficient services and to respond to the demands of our clients and of those who use our platforms.”

Luca Scuriatti, CEO of Altravia.