We can help you achieve 100% uptime for your site.
We are well-known for our technical architecture expertise, especially for optimizing content management and e-commerce systems built in Drupal and WordPress. Our architects understand all the intricacies of today's complex web sites, and are able to design and implement platforms to handle millions of site visitors. One recent example required us to rapidly build a new infrastructure for a client in support of media exposure in a New York Times featured article. Every aspect of the environment was considered, including server sizing, load balancing, cloud versus dedicated servers, and, of course, load testing and performance tuning.
Click to Arrange a Complimentary Discussion
In most projects, we start with defining traffic and load expectations by talking with members of our client's technical, marketing, and sales teams. We then analyze existing traffic and load patterns (when available), and review functional requirements of the system to determine which areas may serve as a processing bottleneck. In some instances, our technical architect may offer a recommendation on how functionality could be altered to achieve the same functional goal while lessening burden on the servers. If certain functional specifications cannot be modified, we make special note of the items so they can be more thoroughly considered when server sizing and caching options are defined.
Throughout the project, our technical architects balance their responsibilities of providing subject matter expertise to our design and development teams, while leading the effort to develop an infrastructure roadmap. Components considered in the infrastructure plan include:
- Hosting options
- Server sizing
- Development environments
- Network and bandwidth considerations
- Content delivery network (CDN) options
- Load balancing
- Caching, acceleration, and reverse proxy options
- Load testing and performance tuning
- Deployment plans
- On-going monitoring strategies
While the list is extensive and includes many components, the Shimshock Group team has been through the process many times, and we're very well aware of opportunities to streamline our decision making. For example, we have had great success implementing solutions on hosting platforms from Rackspace, Media Temple, Liquid Web, and HostGator, just to name a few. We know what it takes to build a site within these environments, and our strong experience allows us to understand the benefits and challenges that exist in each situation.
Our technical architects are also very adept at troubleshooting and diagnosing problems on existing sites too. We have worked with numerous clients who initially had a pressing need due to a site becoming unstable or continually crashing, and needed immediate assistance to correct the problem. Being able to help in this way provides a new client the opportunity to see our level of skill when dealing with a real-world problem, and builds trust that we know what it takes to get the job done.
If you're in need of immediate assistance regarding a technical architecture or infrastructure problem, please contact us and we will do our best to help!
