Sabre's Multi-Cloud Strategy: Why They're Taking a Different Approach
Sabre's Decade-Long Commitment to Google Cloud
In January, Sabre, a leading travel technology firm instrumental in managing numerous flight and hotel reservations, revealed a 10-year partnership with Google Cloud. This collaboration entails an estimated $2 billion investment in Google’s cloud platform over the next decade. Shifting to the cloud represents a substantial undertaking for Sabre, which historically relied on its own data centers.
Initial Multi-Cloud Exploration and Subsequent Focus
Joe DiFonzo, Sabre’s Chief Information Officer, explained that this decision stemmed from extensive evaluation. When he joined the company in 2017, a move towards cloud-based workloads was already underway. For Sabre, possessing eight mainframes and over 35,000 servers, this transition was inherently complex.
Legacy Systems and Operational Challenges
The company faced challenges related to its existing software operations, product deployment, and customer service delivery. These processes were deeply rooted in traditional data center models, involving intricate supply chain management and physical machine environments.
With leadership support, DiFonzo aimed to modernize both the company’s infrastructure and its development methodologies. Initially, Sabre engaged with multiple cloud providers, reflecting uncertainty about the optimal strategy – whether to pursue a single-vendor or multi-cloud approach.
Early Multi-Cloud Approach
“We began this journey without significant prior cloud experience, so we initially established agreements with all major cloud providers,” DiFonzo stated. “Our intention was to explore the multi-cloud path until we identified a superior option, as we were unsure of our requirements and didn’t want to commit prematurely.”
Securing early successes was crucial, not only for internal buy-in but also for gaining confidence from Sabre’s customers. The team selected its shopping application, a highly utilized and CPU-intensive service operating from a Tulsa, Oklahoma data center, as a pilot project.
The Limitations of a Multi-Cloud Strategy
By mid-2018, the team recognized that a multi-cloud environment presented limitations. While each provider offered a diverse range of services, adhering to the lowest common denominator across platforms became necessary.
“Employing a least common denominator approach would necessitate training the entire staff on three distinct architectures, database systems, messaging mechanisms, and more,” DiFonzo explained. “We questioned whether, given the current state of cloud vendors, a lack of confidence in any single provider was justified.”
Choosing Google Cloud
Following a thorough assessment, Sabre opted for Google Cloud, citing its technological capabilities, future roadmap, and Google’s acquisition of ITA, providing unique travel industry insights. Sabre also valued Google’s advancements in artificial intelligence and Apigee’s API management tools, alongside shared engineering philosophies.
DiFonzo affirmed that, even with the benefit of hindsight and the emergence of new multi-cloud tools like Google’s Anthos and Microsoft’s Azure Arc, he would make the same decision. Sabre currently utilizes Anthos to manage applications within Google’s environment.
Focus and Efficiency Through Single Vendor
A key advantage of a single vendor, DiFonzo emphasized, is the ability to concentrate engineering efforts. To date, over 3,600 Sabre employees have been trained on Google Cloud, accumulating more than 67,000 hours of learning content on Coursera.
Migration Progress and Future Plans
Currently, approximately 15% of Sabre’s mid-range workloads have been migrated to Google Cloud, including the complete Hotel Customer Reservation System and Travel Solutions airfare shopping service.
While some reports indicated a slower initial spending pace – around $10 million on Google Cloud – DiFonzo clarified that the past year focused on foundational work, with migration now accelerating. He anticipates that 75% of Sabre’s total compute capacity will be powered by Google Cloud by the end of the following year.
Modernizing Applications and Infrastructure
This acceleration is driven by investments in automation and infrastructure development, aiming for increased efficiency. The team is also decomposing legacy applications into microservices and exploring serverless architectures using Google Cloud Functions.
“Validating performance, operation, and scalability requires additional effort,” DiFonzo noted. “However, this process further streamlines routine management activities.”
Leveraging AI and Data Analytics
Sabre and Google are jointly developing a new AI-driven platform to enhance Sabre’s product offerings. The company is also transferring 11 petabytes of core data to Google Cloud, with completion expected by 2023, and preparing to launch a market intelligence product utilizing BigQuery and Looker to forecast travel demand.
“We aim to build upon the innovations of industry leaders,” DiFonzo concluded. “Google has thousands of engineers dedicated to cutting-edge technologies, and we want to leverage their expertise quickly and securely.”