This cutting-edge Saas product revolutionizes the management and automation of diverse library functions by enabling near real-time interaction with devices integrated into automated library systems. This comprehensive solution empowers libraries with centralized control over device configuration and health diagnostics. By offering invaluable insights into usage patterns of both library functions and devices, the platform facilitates informed decision-making for library administrators. Furthermore, it serves as a catalyst for innovation, empowering libraries to introduce new offerings to the market. In essence, our solution transforms the landscape of both digital and physical library experiences, enhancing the overall user and staff engagement.
The primary hurdle we faced was creating and implementing a scalable solution capable of supporting the extensive network of devices in over 25,000 libraries worldwide. Each device generates frequent events, capturing every user interaction. Complicating matters, the proprietary message formats from these devices required a design that could efficiently transform and store them into a unified format in near real time. Additionally, meeting the challenge of providing near real-time alerts for device health and other critical functions further underscored the complexity of our task.
This necessitated the design and architecture of a data-intensive application capable of seamlessly handling and processing dynamic bursts of events in near real-time. Our solution involved the implementation of auto-scaling message brokers, processing pipelines, and a distributed data storage strategy, supported by a horizontally scalable cloud infrastructure. To enhance adaptability, each organization benefited from a highly configurable alerting, automation, and notification mechanism. Furthermore, for each device type, we implemented dynamic configuration view generation, ensuring a tailored and efficient approach to meet specific requirements
The application was meticulously architected, resulting in a notable reduction in deployment costs without compromising horizontal scalability. The product has been launched in America and Europe with plans to expand to libraries worldwide in the next few years. With an anticipated average processing capability of 2500 device events per second, the solution stands poised to efficiently meet the dynamic demands of libraries across diverse regions.
