Expo 2020 Dubai
Expo 2020 Dubai delivers memorable experiences for millions with AppDynamics
Key benefits
Powered vibrant, global live event for 24 million visitors from 178 nations
Delivered 24/7 performance or mobile app, website and on-site services
Enabled collaboration to manage the safety of 150,000 average daily visitors
With AppDynamics, the Expo 2020 Dubai team successfully implemented its five-year IT roadmap leading up to the event, and optimized the performance of hundreds of mission-critical applications to deliver memorable experiences for 24 million visitors from 178 nations.
“There are countless solutions to monitor your infrastructure, your network, your databases and your OS. But monitoring applications is a completely different game, and AppDynamics is in a class of its own."
Taif Muhsin
VP of Integrated Operations, Expo 2020 Dubai
Challenge
Build and optimize an IT infrastructure that keeps mission-critical World Expo applications running at full capacity to deliver an inspiring, safe and memorable event for an average of 150,000 visitors each day.
Solution
AppDynamics enabled Expo 2020 Dubai to test, monitor and manage IT performance, starting with a technology roadmap five years before the event and culminating with real-time application monitoring on the ground.
Results
The Expo 2020 Dubai team gained visibility across every front and back-end application, quickly eliminating performance issues and maintaining the speed and reliability of their website, mobile app and accreditation platform.
"We had an average of 150,000 attendees at Expo 2020 Dubai each day, so it was a massive undertaking to oversee everyone’s movements and protect their health in a way that felt fluid and comfortable. We would never have succeeded without the visibility into our systems that AppDynamics delivers."
Taif Muhsin
VP of Integrated Operations, Expo 2020 Dubai
Challenge
An international showcase five years in the making
Global expos are era-defining. From the 1889 World Expo in Paris, France that brought us the Eiffel Tower to the 2000 edition in Hanover, Germany that kicked off the clean-energy car revolution, these events are a source of inspiration for all of humanity.
Expo 2020 Dubai was no exception. It was one of the biggest expos in history, with more than 24 million visitors from 178 nations descending on Dubai for the occasion, and an average of 150 million attendees tuning in virtually each day. The logistics of organizing and managing an event of this scale were so complex that the Expo 2020 Dubai team began to implement its technology roadmap five years ahead of time.
“Expo 2020 Dubai was about connecting minds from around the world so we can build a better future together. That presented a unique challenge, as we needed to create a showcase for cutting-edge thinking and technologies years before they were even conceived,” says Taif Muhsin, Vice President of Integrated Operations for Expo 2020 Dubai. “That required us to be incredibly agile and flexible, and build an IT infrastructure to match.”
Bringing harmony to IT infrastructure
Unlike a business that can build, test and refine its IT infrastructure indefinitely, the Expo 2020 Dubai team had to prepare for a singular event that would put Dubai on a global stage. The margin for error was near zero, and there would be no second chances.
The key was adaptability. Muhsin’s team began to design a technology architecture that was as flexible as it was powerful. That included front end customer services like the Expo 2020 Dubai website, participant portal and ticketing system, as well as back end technologies ranging from an enterprise-grade ERP, to middleware, to a cloud CRM platform.
“The Expo 2020 Dubai puzzle included countless pieces, many of which changed shape as we moved closer to go-live,” says Muhsin. “We needed to keep all those pieces working together harmoniously. That required visibility across our infrastructure, from our databases to our visitor services on the ground.”
One optimization platform for every visitor experience
Muhsin and his team used AppDynamics to optimize the performance of every critical application involved in Expo 2020 Dubai. From load speeds for the Expo website and mobile app used by attendees to book and plan their visit, to marketing campaigns funneled through the organization’s CRM, to the accreditation platform for Expo 2020 Dubai employees – everything had to run smoothly.
AppDynamics enabled the full-stack observability Muhsin and his team needed to monitor and manage every application in their hybrid cloud environment. Business iQ provided a clear and comprehensive view of IT performance across the stack, allowing them to resolve performance issues quickly and at the source. Security monitoring with Cisco Secure Application helped the team stay one step ahead of exploits that might have compromised the performance of critical Expo 2020 Dubai applications and services.
“We had visitor-facing applications running on the AWS cloud and a mix of Etisalat cloud and on-premises applications running behind the scenes. AppDynamics made it possible to monitor all of those services with ease and keep them secure,” says Muhsin.
This was about more than monitoring infrastructure or network performance. It was about ensuring that every experience at Expo 2022 was memorable, for the right reasons. Be it buying a ticket on a phone, getting support for a query, or obtaining a queue code to visit the event pavilions, a few minutes of downtime could spell the difference between a positive impression of Expo 2020 Dubai and a negative one that would cut someone’s visit short.
That went for the Expo 2020 Dubai call center as well. Muhsin’s team used AppDynamics to monitor call and chatbot conversations in their SAP CRM system to ensure communications between service representatives and visitors were adding value. “The ability to deliver high-quality call center services was essential,” says Muhsin. “People were calling us because they had a problem, and AppDynamics helped us solve those problems quickly and with empathy.”
“The ability to deliver high-quality call center services was essential. People were calling us because they had a problem, and AppDynamics helped us solve those problems quickly and with empathy.”
Taif Muhsin
VP of Integrated Operations, Expo 2020 Dubai
The Expo 2020 Dubai team also faced a completely unprecedented challenge with the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizers made the prudent decision to delay Expo 2020 Dubai until October 2021, but participating countries and visitors were still cautious, and Muhsin’s team was committed to making their visit as safe as possible.
To deliver a safe in-person experience, the Expo 2020 Dubai team integrated its CRM with the Dubai Ministry of Health to monitor the vaccination status of its employees as part of their accreditation. In parallel, it used advanced crowd management systems, monitored by AppDynamics, to avoid concentrating too many visitors in one area.
“We had an average of 150,000 attendees at Expo 2020 Dubai each day, so it was a massive undertaking to oversee everyone’s movements and protect their health in a way that felt fluid and comfortable. We would never have succeeded without the visibility into our systems that AppDynamics delivers,” says Muhsin.
Seamless visitor experiencese
The effort and investment that went into Expo 2022 certainly got the world’s attention, helping to make Dubai a true beacon of inspiration and education. That’s not to say Muhsin’s team didn’t run into challenges. But with AppDynamics monitoring and alerting them to performance issues right away, the effect was negligible on visitors, who could take full advantage of their experience.
For instance, when Expo 2020 Dubai first opened its doors the team quickly tracked a database issue that affected the mobile app booking pavilion visits. Using AppDynamics, they identified and resolved the issue before it impacted any attendees. At another point, a bug in a participating country’s ticketing system impacted the performance of the Expo 2020 Dubai mobile app. AppDynamics revealed the issue was with an external system rather than the application. “We never would have found the reason for what was impacting the mobile app without AppDynamics,” says Muhsin. “That could have been disastrous.”
The Expo 2022 accreditation system also needed to run error-free so that the staff working the event each day – pavilion workers, security guards, truck drivers and so on – could access the site. During a period of high demand, AppDynamics alerted Muhsin’s team that the system had slowed below acceptable levels, allowing them to address the change before it became an issue.
Looking back, Muhsin reflects on how his team built, tested, released and managed a matrix of hundreds of IT services to make Expo 2020 Dubai a success. “AppDynamics allowed us to trace every transaction in our organization from end to end. That observability across the stack is invaluable,” says Muhsin. “There are countless solutions to monitor your infrastructure, your network, your databases and your OS. But monitoring applications is a completely different game, and AppDynamics is in a class of its own.”
"AppDynamics allowed us to trace every transaction in our organization from end to end. That observability across the stack is invaluable.”
Taif Muhsin
VP of Integrated Operations, Expo 2020 Dubai
About Expo 2020 Dubai
Expo 2020 Dubai was a World Expo held in Dubai. The event’s theme was “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”, with participants and visitors encouraged to foster more opportunity, mobility and sustainability in their daily lives. More than 24 million people visited Expo 2020 Dubai between October 2021 and March 2022, representing 178 countries, and an additional 150 million people tuned in virtually.
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