TomTom maps out a path to fast innovation with Linux on Azure

Innovating at speed, without constraints

TomTom boasts an impressive list of firsts, beginning with its early days in 1991. It launched the first PDA-based street-level maps applications in 2002, following that with the first all-in-one satellite navigation apps. A string of other cutting-edge advances followed, including a comprehensive suite of maps APIs for developers and forays into the guidance technologies for automated driving solutions. 

Clearly, innovation is TomTom’s lifeblood. Its engineering teams are the keepers of that innovative flame, and the company supports their work with the technologies that deliver the power and capability they need for the massive amounts of computing power and complex algorithms that underlie TomTom solutions. “The technology our engineering teams use influences our ability to be competitive and creative,” says Martijn Siereveld, Head of CCoE at TomTom. “The products and services our teams develop make our reputation, and we support them with the capabilities offered by the public cloud.”

It follows that the company considers it critical to attract and retain top engineering talent. “We find that many engineers who join TomTom fall in love with the problem, not the solution,” says Koen Denecker, Vice President of Platform Engineering at TomTom. “And we have no shortage of substantial engineering problems for them to fall in love with. It’s the definition of a playground for engineers.” 

Linux is key to keeping that playground vibrant. “The vast majority of our engineers run Linux on their laptops,” says Siereveld. “Traditionally, all of our back-end systems ran on Linux servers. And TomTom has always supported and contributed to open-source technologies.” 

Adds Denecker, “Linux is the core operating system for all our production environments. Being anchored in the open-source world helps us boost innovation.”

Combining strengths: Linux and Azure

Denecker points out that given the high value of engineers’ time, TomTom needs technology that minimizes tinkering with infrastructure. “If it doesn’t drive business value, we shouldn’t be doing it,” he insists. “That’s why we want reliable services that are available to us when we need them.” That ethos drove the company’s shift from an on-premises infrastructure to Azure. “Our innovative problem solving and development only increase with time,” he adds. “Building all our tools in-house would be a time-consuming chore that would distract from that innovation. By choosing a cloud platform that supports Linux so beautifully, we can embrace open-source innovation in an unconstrained manner. Azure supplies the management and control capabilities coupled with the safety, security, and compliance we need. We achieve the sweet spot that enhances creativity.”

TomTom bolsters that creativity by choosing the technologies that offer the greatest advantage for each use case. “We aim for maximum cross-platform portability,” notes Denecker. “That was a factor in our choice of Linux, and we’re very pleased that moving our Linux workloads to Azure has been a non-issue. We didn’t have to compromise on our cross-platform expectations.”

Making it easy to run Linux on Azure

Microsoft responded quickly to the popularity of Linux, now the fastest-growing platform on Azure. That means that companies like TomTom get expert support for their Linux workloads on Azure. Microsoft holds Linux distribution publishers to a high standard—they must comply with at least a quarterly schedule for security updates and patches. A Linux distribution is an operating system, based on the Linux kernel, that may also be a package management system.

Performance is assured because of the Azure platform’s built-in high-performance computing (HPC) enhancement with Linux distributions. That HPC enhancement is perfect for the autonomous driving capability under development at TomTom.

The Azure platform also offers compatible storage options for Linux. TomTom initially focused on migrating its workloads while enhancing deployment and observability. A second phase is now underway to modernize the migrated workloads by using the Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)–based reference architecture. TomTom uses AKS to deploy and manage containerized applications like the maps APIs. “It was easy to migrate all of our 195 applications that use Linux and convert them to AKS containers,” says Artem Zaitsev, Senior IT Manager for Private Cloud at TomTom. 

Adds Denecker, “While Microsoft may not be our only provider, it gives us the on-ramp for the modern environment we need. We decided to adopt a fully managed Kubernetes service because of the value that using AKS adds to our many Linux applications. It meets all our requirements for reliability and scalability without sacrificing control, performance, or security.”

Siereveld highlights the critical importance of keeping engineers productive during and after the cloud migration by ensuring that they could continue to use the same tools. “Using Linux has always been strongly engrained throughout the TomTom technology culture,” he says. “Being able to maintain our Linux usage on Azure was enormously beneficial.” 

For Denecker, the ability to run Linux on Azure creates a value that far exceeds the sum of its parts. “We operate in a tough market where speed and innovation carry the day,” he says. “We couldn’t manage the pace that keeps us ahead if we were locked into on-premises hardware. We use Azure to benefit from the elasticity of the cloud while using the operating system that best supports our engineers.”

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