Mastering mutating data with MongoDB Atlas

THEIR CHALLENGE

Managing a constant stream of unstructured data

Applivery is a Spanish business that specializes in endpoint management and security. Its cloud-based Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) platform is designed to manage and secure clients’ mobile estates—including iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows devices—and streamline mobile application distribution.

For Applivery, success involves managing a constant and growing stream of unstructured data from a diverse ecosystem of devices. 

“The predictability of the data schemas we have from devices is almost zero,” said César Trigo Esteban, Applivery’s CEO and founder. “It mutates and changes over time. Suddenly, iOS, macOS, Windows, or Android will release a new version of their operating system, and then new data arrives. It’s like a living thing that evolves every year.”

When setting up Applivery, Trigo knew from the outset that this was a data environment that legacy relational databases would not be able to handle efficiently. The company needed to operate without the rigid schema migrations associated with traditional database platforms. In addition, it needed the ability to store complex device configurations in single documents and iterate on code quickly without having to predict the data model in advance.

It also required a solution that offered horizontal scaling to support massive, simultaneous device updates without downtime, alongside the business’s own impressive growth.

“Our company grew from three  to 50 people in one year, while our global customer base grew by 400%,” added Trigo. “We needed an infrastructure that would grow and scale proportionately with us, as a global platform with high-volume, real-time logging, while remaining sustainable in terms of cost.”

Initial tests with relational databases such as PostgreSQL and MySQL did not provide the results that Applivery needed. The business was looking to prioritize innovation and fast go-to-market schedules, and saw that a document model would allow developers to work with systems they already understood. 

“JSON-based schemas are not uncommon for developers, so the learning curve when they started to use MongoDB was negligible,” said Trigo. “That was an important differentiator for us.”

OUR SOLUTION

Delivering on a huge scale and with massive data volumes

Trigo had successfully used MongoDB since 2011 for a range of massive-scale projects, including a social network for Coca-Cola and McDonalds’ digital ecosystem in Latin America. These successes gave him the confidence to build Applivery on MongoDB from day one.

“Working with MongoDB in 2011 was a leap of faith, as there weren’t many other options on the market,” Trigo explained. “But it delivered on a huge scale and with massive data volumes, so we had no hesitation in choosing MongoDB for Applivery.”

MongoDB’s flexible document model allows Applivery to store complex, evolving configurations in single documents without the need for rigid schema migrations, enabling the system to respond effortlessly to new OS versions. 

“We’ve developed a layer based on automation and artificial intelligence, that handles all the configurations, restrictions, and everything we’re able to configure on a device,” he added. “We connect with the source, the manufacturer, Google, Apple, and Microsoft, extracting metadata from all the configurations they support. And with each new version, our systems adapt completely autonomously.”

MongoDB’s sharding capabilities have supported Applivery’s growth to a global enterprise handling billions of data points, while replica datasets ensure high availability and disaster recovery, guaranteeing that even if read nodes fail, the database remains secure and operational.

“We’ve been able to build ultra-scalable systems with billions of datapoints—terabytes or petabytes of data—without needing to resort to sharded replica sets,” said Trigo. “MongoDB can handle anything we throw at it.”

MongoDB provides robust security, ensuring that data remains encrypted even during query processes. It also allows Applivery to choose specific data locations, a key requirement for applications where digital sovereignty is critical.

“Ensuring that our data is secure, that it resides where we say it does, and that we have true sovereignty over it is incredibly important,” said Trigo. “MongoDB has key tools that help us along this path.”

OUTCOME

A powerful and performant working environment

MongoDB Atlas has supported Applivery’s expansion from a three-person startup to a global platform serving major clients such as Netflix, Snapchat, and global banks. For Applivery, the speed and agility with which it can develop and launch new products and features is a critical competitive advantage.

“Being able to challenge our competitors directly and launch products much faster than they do has absolutely incalculable value for Applivery,” said Trigo. “That time to market is the big differentiating factor that MongoDB brings.”

Specifically, MongoDB Atlas’s flexible data model allows the Applivery team to run proofs of concept and iterate on code without pre-defining data schemas or managing complex migrations. As a result, the business can deliver features, such as adaptations to new OS updates, in days rather than weeks.

MongoDB has also enabled Applivery to build internal AI agents that possess “procedural memory” rather than just data storage. By utilizing MongoDB Atlas Vector Search, Applivery has cut resolution times, reduced workloads for engineering teams by allowing virtual agents to resolve complex cases autonomously, and enabled agents to learn from every interaction.

“We can save use cases and refer to them as additional context for the future,” said Trigo. “We can give agents instructions, and when they develop a solution, they can generate a new use case so next time we can get straight to the point. We then save it in MongoDB.”

Leveraging MongoDB Atlas has significantly lowered administrative burdens. The platform’s self-managing environment handles scaling, backups, and health alerts, which removes the need for dedicated administrators and allows engineers to focus on value-adding tasks rather than maintenance. This has also resulted in significantly lower operating costs compared to legacy systems.

“What I’m most proud of is creating a powerful working environment for the people who work at our company,” Trigo concluded. “Technology should be at the service of people, and MongoDB Atlas brings that to Applivery.”