Enterprise Cloud Cost Optimization with AI Automation
In the era of generative AI, enterprises are struggling with high cloud costs. Akamai Technologies, a cybersecurity and content delivery provider, faced significant challenges in managing its complex cloud infrastructure across multiple clouds while maintaining strict security requirements. To address this, Akamai turned to Cast AI’s application performance automation platform.
The Problem: Inefficient Cloud Usage
Enterprises are expected to waste $44.5 billion on unnecessary cloud spending this year. Akamai’s large and complex cloud infrastructure, powering content delivery network (CDN) and cybersecurity services for demanding customers, made cost optimization critical. The company needed a continuous way to optimize infrastructure and reduce cloud costs without sacrificing performance.
Solution: Cast AI’s Application Performance Automation
Cast AI’s platform uses specialized AI agents to monitor, analyze, and optimize cloud environments for cost, security, and speed. The core platform, Application Performance Automation (APA), operates through machine learning models with reinforcement learning based on historical data and learned patterns. APA is coupled with infrastructure-as-code (IaC) tools on several clouds, making it a completely automated platform.
Results: Significant Cost Savings and Improved Efficiency
Cast AI’s platform helped Akamai cut cloud costs by 40-70%, depending on workload. The automation platform optimized Kubernetes infrastructure in real-time, scaling applications up and down based on demand. Akamai’s DevOps team no longer needed to manually tune Kubernetes workloads, freeing them to focus on releasing features faster to customers.
Key Features and Benefits
- Autoscaling and in-depth Kubernetes automation
- Automatic selection of cost-efficient compute instances
- Workload rightsizing and Spot instance automation
- Cost analytics capabilities providing real-time insights
“Hands down the biggest benefit has been the fact that we don’t need to manage our infrastructure anymore,” said Dekel Shavit, senior director of cloud engineering at Akamai. “The team of Cast’s agents is now doing this for us. That has freed our team up to focus on what matters most: Releasing features faster to our customers.”
Conclusion
Akamai’s success with Cast AI demonstrates the potential for AI-driven automation in optimizing cloud costs and improving infrastructure management. As enterprises continue to struggle with cloud cost optimization, solutions like Cast AI’s APA platform offer a promising path forward, balancing cost efficiency with performance and security requirements.
