Continent 8 (C8) is an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Select Consulting Partner and has built the capabilities to support customers accelerate the adoption of AWS cloud services. The customer, a sportsbook operator, required a partner to meet multiple requirements for connectivity, and C8 was able to deliver a tailored template solution.
The Customer
FanDuel Group is an innovative sports-tech entertainment company that is changing the way consumers engage with their favourite sports, teams, and leagues. The premier gaming destination in the United States, FanDuel Group consists of a portfolio of leading brands across gaming, sports betting, daily fantasy sports, advance-deposit wagering, and TV/media, including FanDuel, Stardust, and TVG.
FanDuel Group has a presence across all 50 states and over 12 million customers. The company is based in New York with offices in California, New Jersey, Florida, Oregon, Atlanta and Scotland. FanDuel Group is a subsidiary of Flutter Entertainment plc, the world’s largest sports betting and gaming operator with a portfolio of globally recognized brands and a constituent of the FTSE 100 index of the London Stock Exchange.
With an “all-AWS” platform design, and a regulatory requirement for dedicated in-state transaction processing, an AWS Outpost was the necessary infrastructure stack, connected to AWS East & West regions.
Needing a provider to create a solution which would deliver reliable and dedicated connectivity scalable to requirements, Continent 8 (C8) worked to produce a suitable template solution to fit the various challenges faced by FanDuel.
“Continent 8 are a key and strategic partner for FanDuel and the combination of Continent 8 Data Center services and Amazon Web Services has enabled FanDuel to focus on its mission of being absurdly fan-focused by delivering the best product in the industry.”
Shane Sweeney, VP of IT at FanDuel
The Challenge
There were multiple requirements to be met from technical to commercial, with an over-riding desire for repeatability through a template solution design:
- Interconnected – the need to enable all AWS Outposts to communicate locally, remotely and with multiple AWS Instances.
- No network management – no local network infrastructure beyond the AWS Outpost; all sites to be “green-field” with no separate network infrastructure and associated co-location rack space.
- Quality connectivity – low latency, diversely resilient private and secure (not DDoS-able) 10Gbps port / up to 5Gbps guaranteed data transfer rates across the US.
- Business continuity – low latency highly available connectivity to facilitate the data replication within regulated jurisdictions.
- No significant lead times – first to market, fully managed and implemented as fast as an AWS Outpost can be shipped.
- Future-proof – provision guaranteed for existing and future sites in all states with highly scalable connectivity to multiple AWS direct connect locations, with a template for replication.
The Solution
Continent 8 proposed and delivered a solution using its existing MPLS network, Continent 8 Cloud Connect product and AWS Outpost Enablement Package:
- The C8 MPLS network is built to connect every C8 site and PoP together via diversely provided and routed wavelength services. The MPLS mesh overlay is used to deliver quality of service and simplified customer VPN delivery options.
- Using a Layer 3 presentation and an effective MPLS VPN Cloud, each AWS Outpost can communicate locally without the need for any local network infrastructure, and remotely to all other instances deployed, enabling disaster recovery data replication and backup capabilities to dedicated port speeds required.
- Using C8 Cloud Connect, existing and additional AWS Direct Connect network points on East and West Coasts of the US could be connected quickly and easily with no complicated or additional customer interaction.
“We have seen significant growth in AWS Outpost utilisation by our customers. To best serve our partners in the US, our team works closely with theirs to understand and meet their vast requirements. As a result, we were able to deliver a template solution to this customer, offering the most available and resilient connectivity.”
Justin Cosnett, Chief Product Officer at Continent 8 Technologies
The Benefits
About
Continent 8 Technologies (C8)
Founded 25 years ago, C8 is an award-winning, multi-jurisdictional, global network solutions provider that connects, manages, and secures the world’s most valuable information.
The company has data centres and strategic points of presence in over 90 connected locations spanning Europe, the Americas and Asia, and is expanding rapidly. Its carrier-grade network powers some of the biggest brands in iGaming.
With a first-to-market strategy, C8 is currently live in 25 states with future sites planned in the near future, enabling customers to capitalise on the fast-growing market.
C8 is an AWS Select Consulting Partner and as a member of the AWS Partner Network (APN), the company can assist iGaming operators and suppliers with AWS services and solutions. This includes the deployment and hosting of AWS Outposts throughout the US, via an AWS Outposts Enablement Package, which provides a delivery team to lead, co-ordinate and support the deployment from pre-install to go-live.
AWS
In 2006, Amazon Web Services (AWS) began offering IT infrastructure services to businesses in the form of web services – now commonly known as cloud computing. One of the key benefits of cloud computing is the opportunity to replace up-front capital infrastructure expenses with low variable costs that scale with your business. With the Cloud, businesses no longer need to plan for and procure servers and other IT infrastructure weeks or months in advance. Instead, they can instantly spin up hundreds or thousands of servers in minutes and deliver results faster.
Today, Amazon Web Services provides a highly reliable, scalable, low-cost infrastructure platform in the cloud that powers hundreds of thousands of businesses in 190 countries around the world.
Learn more about C8’s AWS Outposts Enablement Package and how we can accelerate your cloud strategy here.
Download the Case Study here: C8 Case Study AWS (FanDuel)
