When Priceline launched in 1998 , the internet was so new that the company ’ s small staff relied on just two servers , which promptly crashed under the pent-up demand for discounted airline tickets . In the intervening years ( and after adding more than a few servers ), customer interests have broadened into queries for rental cars , hotel rooms and travel packages .

As an eCommerce pioneer , Priceline is no stranger to growth and change . When it became clear that staying agile would mean saying farewell to legacy architecture and instead piloting to the cloud , they turned to EPAM and Google to help make the move seamless . The ultimate goal : To become cloud native for the entire business .

Priceline ’ s search engine is the backbone of its services . Jetsetters expect to find a dogfriendly beach cottage that can sleep 10 or a yurt with ample parking near a lake — with just a few clicks . To meet everchanging needs , the company has constantly improved its algorithms to deliver what travelers want , adding cleanliness ratings during the pandemic and bundling hotels with car rentals when everyone started taking more road trips .

By partnering with Google Cloud and EPAM , Priceline is harnessing the power of the cloud to use crucial analytics in real time , becoming even more customer centric . So instead of looking for broad trends , Priceline will be able to offer individual travelers personalized recommendations better suited to their search in the moment .

“ Cloud strategy is key to better serving our customers , and EPAM is helping us transform into a faster , more agile travel dealmaker ,” says Martin Brodbeck , chief technology officer at Priceline . “ Their engineering and business expertise have been vital to our goal of becoming cloud native .”

Companies turn to the cloud because it offers flexibility , scalability and security . Priceline will see these benefits and more :

• Google Cloud Platform offers superior data analytics , warehousing and machine learning capabilities , so that the data Priceline is already collecting can become much more useful .

• The company ’ s developers can deploy new functionality quickly , differentiating them from competitors .

• Priceline will be able to make travel recommendations that wouldn ’ t have been possible before .

“ EPAM ’ s expertise is supporting the engineering capabilities needed to modernize Priceline ’ s infrastructure and operations . This isn ’ t a ‘ lift and shift ’ program , but instead a true transformation from legacy architecture to the cloud that cuts across people , processes and technology ,” says Craig Jonsson , key account director at Google Cloud .

“ Here at EPAM we love complex challenges that can be solved with the help of technology , and I am especially passionate about opportunities that lead to better consumer experiences ,” says Regina Viadro , vice president and co-head of NA business at EPAM . “ Helping Priceline transform its complex ecosystem in a modern and scalable way , alongside our partner Google , allowed us to do just that .”

At the heart of Priceline ’ s modernization , EPAM is engineering a pivot from applications running on servers to applications running in containers , using Kubernetes to manage Priceline ’ s code , products and features much faster . The end result is service to customers that is more elastic , more portable , more cross platform and more cost efficient .

People travel for so many reasons : out of curiosity , to connect with friends and family , to get a change in backdrop . Regardless of motivation , travelers will benefit from the tailor-made options that Priceline can deliver from the cloud .

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