A partnership since 2013. Three load-bearing systems. 1.2 million accounts.
Messe Frankfurt is one of the largest trade fair, congress and event organisers in the world, with around 2,700 employees at 29 locations worldwide.
At major fairs like Ambiente, ISH, Light + Building, Automechanika, we built the software behind it.
In May 2013, Messe Frankfurt commissioned us with a proof of concept for a new portal architecture. The PoC became a full project. The project became a platform. Today, stand configurations, ticket sales, access control and exhibitor marketing run on the systems that grew out of it, at virtually every Messe Frankfurt event worldwide. We continuously evolve them.
One account for hundreds of portals.
Through MyAccount, 1.2 million users logged into hundreds of Messe Frankfurt portals as well as connected partner portals worldwide. Stand configuration, ticket ordering, access control, additional services: everything ran through one account. The portal was in production for over a decade, with 99.95% availability, and has since been replaced by a successor platform.
Keep data consistent, across all systems.
In parallel with the login portal, we built the middleware on the basis of an Enterprise Service Bus. It connected the login portal directly to the CRM systems. Distributed across multiple server nodes, loosely coupled, with persistent message queues.
In plain terms: when a user changed their data in the login portal, the change took effect immediately across all connected CRM systems. No data loss. No overload of the back-end systems. No out-of-sync states between portal and CRM.
Today, the ESB has been partially replaced and still fills the gaps where the successor system falls short.
Exhibitors maintain their fair presence themselves.
MPM is the central online tool for exhibitor marketing at Ambiente, ISH, Light + Building, Automechanika, Techtextil, IFFA, Prolight + Sound and many other trade fairs worldwide. Exhibitors manage their company profile online: contact details, marketing copy, videos, logos. The data is automatically published to every media channel of the event: printed catalogue, exhibitor and product search on the web, interactive hall plan, navigator app.
Plus: an integrated shop for additional services, an administration interface for event management, reporting for the trade fair organization.
A watch list that lets fair visitors plan their visit in advance. Customer data management systems that complement the CRM processes. Much of it not visible, much of it taken for granted in day-to-day operations.
When a platform like this goes down, logins go down. Ticket sales go down. Access control goes down. "Business-critical" isn't a sales adjective here. It is the sober description of what this software has carried for 13 years.
1.2M
accounts in the system
99.95%
availability (SLA)
18
subsidiaries worldwide
Software has a lifecycle. Some of what we built, we handed over to its successor in an orderly way after more than a decade; some still fills the gaps where the successor system falls short - and some still carries events worldwide today.
You don't build platforms like this from PowerPoint slides. You build them from code that has to run.
Every day, worldwide, without exception. With architects who know what happens when the system fails. And with colleagues on the client side who share the same goal.
