Database Architecture

Massive Data Specialist

Database architecture and optimization for applications handling massive data volumes. Our differentiator: real-world experience building and operating a 2-petabyte video streaming platform at Tempest Telecom.

2PB Video Platform Experience

Founded Tempest Telecom - built and operated a video streaming platform that scaled to 2 petabytes of data. This real-world experience with petabyte-scale systems sets us apart from typical developers.

At peak operation, the Tempest platform ingested hundreds of gigabytes of new video content daily while simultaneously serving thousands of concurrent streaming sessions. The metadata layer ran on SQL Server with carefully partitioned tables — content catalogs, user sessions, billing records, and analytics data each required different optimization strategies. The biggest lessons came from failures: a poorly indexed query that worked fine at 100TB would bring the system to its knees at 500TB. We learned to design for the data volume you'll have in two years, not the data you have today. Monitoring query performance, storage I/O patterns, and connection pool utilization became second nature — skills that directly translate to every database project we take on.

Database Design & Architecture

Our approach starts with understanding how the application will read and write data — not just today, but as it scales. We normalize where data integrity matters and strategically denormalize where read performance is critical. Schema design includes proper foreign key relationships, check constraints, and appropriate data types sized for actual requirements. Indexing strategy is driven by actual query patterns: we use covering indexes for high-frequency reads, filtered indexes for subset queries, and composite indexes aligned with WHERE clause patterns. For large datasets, we implement table partitioning by date range or tenant ID, allowing the database engine to efficiently prune irrelevant data during queries. Transaction boundaries are designed to be as narrow as possible — locking only what's needed for the shortest duration necessary.

Performance Optimization

We specialize in optimizing databases for data-intensive workloads:

• Query Optimization - Identifying and fixing slow queries, proper indexing strategies
• Schema Tuning - Refactoring database structures for better performance
• Scaling Strategies - Vertical and horizontal scaling approaches
• Caching Layers - Redis, in-memory caching, query result caching
• Partitioning - Table partitioning for massive datasets

Database Platforms

Experience across multiple database platforms:

• SQL Server - Microsoft SQL Server, T-SQL, SSIS, SSRS
• MySQL - MySQL 8.x, MariaDB, optimization and replication
• PostgreSQL - Advanced features, JSON support, full-text search
• NoSQL - Redis for caching, document databases when appropriate

Petabyte-Scale Expertise

Managing petabyte-scale systems taught us that data lifecycle management is as important as the initial architecture. We implement tiered retention strategies — hot storage for active data with fast SSD-backed queries, warm storage for recent history on high-density drives, and cold archival for compliance and historical analysis. Backup strategies at this scale require incremental approaches with regular full baseline snapshots; you can't afford to restore 50TB from a single backup file. Disaster recovery planning includes documented RTOs and RPOs with tested failover procedures — not theoretical plans that have never been exercised. Monitoring covers database performance metrics, storage utilization trends, query execution times, and automated alerting when patterns indicate emerging problems before they become outages.

Always Bundled with Applications

We don't offer standalone database services. Database architecture is always bundled with custom application development - because the database design must align with the application's needs. This integrated approach ensures optimal performance and maintainability.

Typical Projects

Database architecture work typically involves:

• High-volume analytics systems - Partitioned databases with materialized views for real-time dashboards over billions of records
• Multi-location transactional systems - Distributed databases handling tens of thousands of daily transactions with concurrency controls
• Reporting and compliance platforms - Complex ETL pipelines with data validation, deduplication, and audit trails
• Time-series data pipelines - Architectures for high-frequency data ingestion with automated partitioning and rollup strategies