Case Study: BeamStream achieves scalable, high-performance social learning platform with Akka

BeamStream builds on Typesafe

BeamStream is a free social learning network for higher education founded by CEO Chris Cox to help students and educators connect, collaborate and manage coursework online. To avoid outages and accelerate time-to-market, Cox evaluated many stacks and — valuing rapid development, security, reliability, a cohesive toolset and hiring appeal — chose the Typesafe Platform (Play, Akka, Scala) and engaged implementation partner Knoldus to help build the product.

Using Play to expose REST services, Backbone.js for the front end, and Akka Futures for concurrent data fetching, Knoldus architected and built BeamStream’s backend so the team could deliver an MVP quickly. The platform enabled fast iteration, easy REST integration, strong community/documentation support and the scalability needed for peak loads; BeamStream moved into user testing with plans for staged alpha/beta releases and continuous deployment toward a full launch.

BeamStream

Chris Cox

Co-Founder and CEO