Retailer scaled eCommerce operations with Google Cloud
Optical retailer migrated to Google Cloud, stabilizing their eCommerce platform while slashing Oracle licensing fees by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Retailer eliminated restrictive data center leases and high-risk licensing costs.
Migration to Google Cloud transitioned the retailer from rigid hardware to an agile, PostgreSQL ready cloud environment.
The optical retailer faced the dual challenge of exiting an expiring data center lease while managing high-risk Oracle licensing. They turned to Pythian to migrate their critical Oracle ATG eCommerce platform to Google Cloud to ensure stability during peak sales seasons. Pythian provided a multi-phase migration strategy—moving from Bare Metal Solution (BMS) to Google Compute Engine (GCE)—which modernized their stack with PostgreSQL, enabled instant provisioning, and created a scalable environment for global expansion.
Pythian’s strategic leadership and database expertise put us in a position where we finally have choices for our future growth.
VP of Engineering
Modernized retailer's infrastructure, reduced licensing cost and scaled eCommerce operations
Pythian stabilized the high-traffic retail environments, deploying a seamless migration to Google Cloud that replaced rigid hardware with agile, cost-optimized infrastructure.
High-risk legacy platform dependency
The optical retailer relied on a complex Oracle RAC environment in a legacy data center that inhibited the agility needed for modern eCommerce demands.
Complex Oracle license exposure
The retailer faced high-stakes licensing that threatened to increase costs and create legal friction with Oracle.
Lack of instant provisioning
The retailers initial hosting environment prevented rapid scaling, making it difficult to clone environments for testing or upgrade cycles.
Prohibitive global scaling costs
The financial burden of additional proprietary licenses made entering new geographic markets like EMEA and APAC cost-prohibitive.
Conducted a Database Performance Health Check
Before initiating the migration, Pythian’s Oracle ACEs conducted a comprehensive technical assessment of the retailer’s existing Oracle RAC environment. The focus was to stabilize the database to withstand massive traffic spikes during peak eCommerce holidays and sales seasons. By performing deep-dive performance tuning and health checks, Pythian ensured that the customer could maintain 100% uptime while preparing for the transition to Google Cloud.
Migrated to Bare Metal Solution (BMS)
To meet a critical lease expiration deadline, Pythian orchestrated the rapid migration of the retailer’s Oracle ATG eCommerce platform to Google Cloud Bare Metal Solution (BMS). This was the best path at the time to move heavy Oracle workloads into the Google ecosystem without a full refactor. Pythian managed the end-to-end data transfer, ensuring minimal downtime so that the retailer’s point-of-sale systems and web commerce remained active for global customers.
Configured virtual machines in Google Compute Engine (GCE)
Once the initial migration was stabilized, Pythian evolved the retailer’s architecture by transitioning the Oracle database from BMS to virtual machines in Google Compute Engine (GCE). This move shifted the customer from rigid hardware commitments—which required seven-week lead times for new nodes—to a flexible, cloud-native model. This phase provided the retailer with instant provisioning capabilities, allowing them to create or destroy testing clones in minutes rather than months.
Migrated Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) to GCE
A pivotal part of the solution involved—the intentional move away from Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) during the transition to GCE virtual machines. Pythian’s architects redesigned the environment to run production workloads on non-RAC instances, significantly simplifying operations. This strategic shift eliminated the need for high-cost RAC licenses and associated support fees, directly resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual savings for the customer.
Migrated to PostgreSQL
To provide the retailer with long-term vendor independence, Pythian completed 80% of the heavy lifting for a planned migration to PostgreSQL. This involved extensive discovery work, schema mapping, and building a functional data migration path. By transforming the backend to be compatible with open-source alternatives, Pythian put the retailer in a "ready-to-act" position, allowing them to scale into new global markets like APAC and EMEA without being hindered by prohibitive proprietary licensing costs.
Retailer maximized cloud investments for global growth.
With an agile cloud environment that cuts costs and provides scalability, the optical retailer is able to rapidly respond to retail market shifts.
The retailer yielded significant business outcomes migrating to Google Cloud, primarily centered on enhanced cloud infrastructure, massive cost savings, and strategic positioning for future growth. By eliminating Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC), the retailer achieved estimated annual savings of over $200,000 in licensing fees while simultaneously improving infrastructure agility by 95% through Google Compute Engine (GCE). Furthermore, Pythian completed 80% of the end-to-end groundwork for a PostgreSQL migration, providing the retailer with a future-ready, low-cost blueprint that empowers them to scale into new international territories without being hindered by proprietary software costs.
$200K
Immediate licensing costs saved
99%
Reduction in wait times
<5
Minutes provisioning time
I have worked with Pythian in the past and knew I could lean into their database experience to help us with our database projects here.
Director, Software Engineering
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