Customer Story

Strategic IT Architecture Modernisation Supporting the Growth of Meteorological Portals

Team photo of Ventusky and In-pocasi.cz developers.

About the Project

When extreme weather hits, hundreds of thousands of people turn to these platforms. The meteorological portals In-pocasi.cz and Ventusky have become trusted sources of information for the general public. They deliver accurate forecasts based on global numerical models and help users see the bigger picture behind weather events around the globe.

To keep the portals up and running even during severe weather, when traffic spikes dramatically, they needed a reliable infrastructure. That’s why the project’s creators chose MasterDC – to scale efficiently and maintain uptime even during high traffic.

Screenshot of Ventusky radar.

The Challenge

When they launched their first weather portal back in 2006, they had no idea it would one day become one of the most visited sources of weather information not just in the Czech Republic, but internationally. As the portals gained popularity, the demands on the underlying technology grew as well.

“In the beginning, it wasn’t anything too serious,” says David Prantl, one of the project’s creators. “But over time, it became clear that our existing architecture couldn’t handle the increasing load. In our field, the biggest challenge is dealing with sudden spikes in demand. Especially during times when people are closely monitoring the weather, such as during storms or floods. These traffic surges are difficult to simulate, so we’ve had to learn from real-world experience,” Prantl explains.

When the operating system they had been using reached its end-of-support in 2024, it created the perfect opportunity to rethink their setup. “We needed an infrastructure that would allow us to scale without worrying about performance issues. That’s why we turned to MasterDC,” adds David Prantl.

The New Technical Solution

A Modernised Architecture, High Performance, and Azure Management by MasterDC

Optimised Architecture

The original setup, which used Apache, gradually began to hit its limits under high volumes of simultaneous requests. In the new architecture, we deployed the Nginx web server, which provides greater stability and improved performance. The servers can now efficiently handle large numbers of concurrent requests without the overhead of launching new processes. As a result, portal response times have significantly improved during peak traffic. The solution also integrates seamlessly with modern tools and supports both further scaling and the potential future implementation of load balancing.

High-Performance Hardware

Given the high demands for performance and operational stability, the team chose dedicated physical servers equipped with NVMe Gen4 drives. Compared to standard SSDs, NVMe drives offer significantly faster read and write speeds as well as higher IOPS. As a result, the servers can easily handle traffic spikes and load large datasets without delays. Additionally, compared to building a similar infrastructure in the cloud, this approach is also more cost-effective.

Backup Operations in Azure

Part of the application backend runs in Microsoft Azure, with the physical servers connected via API. If one of the main servers fails, critical functions remain accessible thanks to the cloud-based backup. This hybrid setup increases the overall resilience of the system without the need to build a fully redundant infrastructure.

Full Management by MasterDC

The teams behind In-pocasi.cz and Ventusky focus solely on their applications. Physical hardware, operating systems, and Azure services are all managed by MasterDC. “What I value most about MasterDC is their deep expertise in Microsoft Azure and ability to leverage the strengths of each technology and platform,” explains David Prantl. “This means we don’t need to invest in internal training or worry about covering for absent colleagues. We have a reliable partner who takes full responsibility for the infrastructure 24/7 and responds immediately to any unexpected issues.”

         

In the beginning, we were a small company, so outsourcing server management made perfect sense. Today, we continue to use these services mainly because I like to surround myself with the best people in the industry. When it comes to server experts, I found them at MasterDC.

David Prantl
Co-founder of In-pocasi.cz and Ventusky

What They Value in the Partnership

01

Reliable Operations

Any downtime on the meteorological portals carries reputational risk, and more importantly, financial loss. For David Prantl and his team, a stable IT infrastructure is a top priority, as it underpins the core of their business. “Damage to the brand would result in losses I can’t even begin to calculate. In this respect, outsourcing IT management to MasterDC has proven very effective,” Prantl explains.

02

MasterDC’s Market Stability

When choosing an IT infrastructure provider, service quality was the key factor. “I liked how MasterDC operated and what they offered. I was convinced they would still be here for us twenty years down the line, and I’m glad that has proven to be true,” says David Prantl, reflecting on long-term collaboration.

03

Breadth of Services & Technologies

The wide range of services offered by MasterDC played a significant role when the project was just getting off the ground. It made the decision of whom to partner with for IT services much easier. Even as the portals grew in popularity and their needs expanded, they never had to switch providers or juggle multiple vendors. Everything could be managed conveniently in one place.

04

Responsive Support & Expert Consultation

The team behind In-pocasi.cz and Ventusky also value the fact that they always have someone to turn to. With MasterDC, they can consult on specific parts of their code, best practices, or the deployment of new tools. They have the confidence that, whatever the challenge, they will get the guidance they need to make informed decisions.

Photo of MasterDC data center.

Deployed Products & Services

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+420 515 919 805     support@master.cz

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