At OVHcloud’s Startup Program, we are proud to support innovative startups like Silbo that are reshaping industries.
Today, we speak with Thomas Foricher, CTO of Silbo, a groundbreaking company transforming patient flow management in healthcare.

Can you introduce Silbo and its mission?

Silbo was founded in 2018 by Antoine Bohuon with a clear mission: to serve those who care for others by enabling healthcare professionals to focus on their core mission—delivering quality care.

Our platform addresses the complexities of hospital bed management, facilitating the allocation of beds to patients, improving information sharing among healthcare providers, and optimizing patient trajectories. By offering an intuitive, all-in-one solution, Silbo empowers hospitals to efficiently manage patient flows while enhancing the quality of care provided to patients.

What challenges did Silbo face before partnering with OVHcloud?

Our primary need was to find a sovereign hosting provider with strong expertise in modern technologies such as Kubernetes, MongoDB, and Redis. Additionally, compliance with HDS certification and a guaranteed SLA were critical due to the nature of our work in healthcare.

Managing and securing servers at scale requires highly specialized expertise. With increasing technical interdependencies, ensuring constant security and availability is a dedicated profession. For us, relying on experts like OVHcloud allows us to focus on what we do best—improving healthcare efficiency.

How did OVHcloud help Silbo address these challenges?

OVHcloud was the clear choice. It is the only hosting provider in France that offers a public cloud with high-quality services, combined with HDS and SecNumCloud compliance. Additionally, its strategic vision of deploying local datacenters across Europe aligns with the needs of countries seeking to keep sensitive data, such as health information, close to healthcare institutions.

We use several managed services, including Kubernetes, Object Storage, MongoDB, and Redis. These services are comparable to those offered by other providers, but OVHcloud’s standout feature was Rancher, which we beta-tested. Rancher allowed us to monitor on-premise Kubernetes deployments effectively, with support from OVHcloud’s engineering team.

With the help of OVHcloud experts, we improved our knowledge of Kubernetes. By adopting their best practices, we successfully deployed Kubernetes on-premise and leveraged Rancher for effective monitoring. This expertise has significantly enhanced our ability to scale infrastructure while maintaining high security and reliability.

What tangible results has Silbo achieved through this partnership?

Since partnering with OVHcloud, we’ve seen our infrastructure costs cut in half compared to other providers without public cloud capabilities. Our platform is now faster, providing a noticeably better experience for end-users.

From a development perspective, on-demand Kubernetes allows us to execute large computational jobs and parallelize analyses. This accelerates our deployment workflows and optimizes our processes.

By outsourcing infrastructure management to OVHcloud, we’ve freed up resources to focus on developing new features and enhancing our platform. This enables us to deliver even greater value to our users and maintain our commitment to innovation.

What’s next for Silbo?

Our ambitions are closely aligned with OVHcloud’s vision: expanding across Europe while providing secure, localized services compliant with both international and local regulations.
One of our main challenges will be managing multiple instances that comply with the specific regulations of different countries. Cloud solutions will be key in helping us navigate this complexity while maintaining high standards of security and efficiency.

What advice would you give to startups exploring cloud solutions?

Focus on two key aspects: identifying your user’s problem and solving it as simply and efficiently as possible.
Leverage existing, standardized solutions wherever possible. Avoid reinventing the wheel—your priorities should always align with your clients’ needs, not internal assumptions or preferences.

Join the OVHcloud Startup Program

Silbo’s success highlights the transformative power of leveraging OVHcloud’s Startup Program.
Are you ready to take your startup to the next level? Join a growing community of innovators and benefit from tailored cloud solutions, expert guidance, and a global ecosystem.
Learn more about OVHcloud’s Startup Program and get started on your journey today!

The flexibility of the NoSQL data model

Unlike traditional databases, MongoDB can gather data without a predefined structure and adapt its dynamic scheme as needed. The tabular schema is no longer used, as regards NoSQL databases, the logical representation of a NoSQL database resembles a tree structure. MongoDB is a document-oriented database management system that organises data in JSON documents and collections. These documents contain pairs of values or keys of different types, including nested documents and arrays. The structure of key/value pairs can vary across different documents. Additionally, MongoDB also allows for the use of GridFS, which enables it to function as a file system using the JavaScript query language.

Advantages – based on use cases

MongoDB and MySQL both have their various strengths and benefits, which include indexing, query language (both rely on natural language and offer a graphical interface when needed), security (each offers authentication, access control and data encryption), and compatibility with various programming languages (Java, Python, Node.js, server-side PHP, Ruby and C#). Scalability and strong read-write performance set MongoDB apart in multiple use cases.

MySQL only allows for vertical scaling, i.e., you can only add resources to the database server (RAM, CPU) for scalability. During the replication process, read-only copies are created on other machines, which may result in delays in updates and the user’s access to information.

MongoDB goes even further by incorporating both vertical and horizontal scaling into its design. Two mechanisms, clustering and sharding, are used to achieve this. Clustering, which involves groups of MongoDB servers with identical data (three servers minimum), and sharding, which spreads different parts of the data across multiple servers for load distribution, high availability, and security in case of hardware failure.

MongoDB stands out from the rest in terms of performance, particularly in writing, when using the “insertMany()” API command to insert or update numerous records. When dealing with a high volume of records, MySQL is the faster option.

So, your project, available hardware, and the type of data you work with (structured, semi-structured or unstructured) will determine the most suitable technology.

Of course, there are alternatives or plugins to address the limitations of MySQL or make up for missing features – depending on the use case. For instance, with an RDBMS like MariaDB, you can enable multi-master clustering using this approach. However, attempting to adapt a technology to needs it wasn’t designed for in the first place will inevitably make maintenance complex, increase the risk of malfunctions, and lower performance.

On the other hand, if MongoDB proves to be more suitable, we can’t overlook the skills needed to deploy, configure and maintain MongoDB’s architecture, as well as understand replicate set and sharding ^[1] (Find out more about the differences between the two). If you need it, choosing an OVHcloud-managed solution like Managed Databases for MongoDB could be the ideal option. 

Why choose MongoDB over any other non-relational database management system?

There are many other document-oriented databases out there, including Couchbase, CouchDB, Oracle NoSQL Database, Amazon DocumentDB, Azure Cosmos DB, and more. Nonetheless, MongoDB is notable for its versatility, performance, scalability, and features. This makes it a popular DBMS for various use cases, including e-commerce catalogues, web/mobile apps with user-specific content customisation (e.g., social media), payment systems, serverless design, workload migration, content management, gaming, IoT data collection, and much more. It spans use cases involving big data and artificial intelligence.

Unlock MongoDB’s full potential effortlessly with OVHcloud

Installing MongoDB on a single server, VPS or Public Cloud instance is straightforward. However, things might get more complex when the project enters production and/or gains momentum, or requires a stable environment and deployment of a multi-node cluster. This also includes mobilising specialised resources that could be allocated to your main business, like developing applications. This particularly holds true for use cases that demand solid compliance, such as health data hosting and management.

OVHcloud offers a managed MongoDB solution — i.e., it is managed for you by our team and hosted in a sovereign cloud. — designed and delivered in partnership with MongoDB’s teams. Since our Database as a Service (DBaaS) is not shared, it allows you to free up your SysAdmins without compromising performance and compliance. Each user has their own environment, except for the Free Tier Discovery offer, where CPU and RAM resources are shared. This service also helps you tackle the challenge of scaling your database, syncing and distributing data across several nodes, as well as backing it up (included in our plans).

Find out why you should choose MongoDB managed on OVHcloud, an expert in MongoDB infrastructure – including deployment and administration. You can achieve greater efficiency and build more reliable, powerful and secure applications, while optimising the total cost of ownership (TCO) of your data.

Want to go further ?

At first glance, the idea might seem absurd: migrating to NoSQL, a non-relational database management system, while using a MySQL or Oracle database. It’s like putting petrol in a diesel car. Of course, the code will need be altered, but it is certainly doable. Read the MongoDB webinar “Migrating relational database workloads to the MongoDB Document Model”

^[1] Soon, the OVHcloud Managed Databases for MongoDB service will include the sharding set-up feature. This has been added to our roadmap.

MongoDB can also be a powerful data source for IoT, BI and data analytics platforms. However, deploying and configuring this popular database engine requires specialist skills. Moreover, you need adequate resources to manage the machines that host your databases (e.g., for maintenance, updates, obsolescence management).

Why migrate your MongoDB to a managed Database as a Service ?

Installing MongoDB on a single server, VPS or Public Cloud instance is straightforward, but it becomes challenging once your project is up and running and/or starts to gain momentum. This involves ensuring a stable environment, deploying a cluster with several nodes (a primary read/write node and read-only secondary nodes), or setting up automatic backups. This also means mobilising specialised resources that could be allocated to your main business — developing the best applications for your internal of external customers 

OVHcloud offers a managed MongoDB solution. It’s managed for you by our team and hosted in a trusted cloud. This Database as a Service (DBaaS) solution designed and offered in partnership with MongoDB Inc., frees up your system administrators (SysAdmins) without the need to trade off your performance commitments. It’s not a shared service, user benefits from dedicated resources except for the Free Tier Discovery solution, where CPU and RAM are shared on a top of a mutualized Kubernetes stack. This service also helps you tackle the challenge of scaling your database, it comes with syncing and distributing data across several nodes. You can also automatically back it up (a feature included in paid plans).

Here’s why delegating the deployment and administration of your database to OVHcloud, a MongoDB infrastructure expert, is a good idea. You can achieve greater efficiency and build more reliable, powerful and secure applications, while optimising the total cost of ownership (TCO) and time to market of your data.

High availability, high performance, and resilience by design

All MongoDB solutions offered by OVHcloud rely on at least a 3-node replica set. Or a replica set of up to 7 nodes. This is to ensure your data is completely safe (full data redundancy) in the event of machine failure. But also to balance load across all nodes for optimal performance.

The OVHcloud Free Tier Discovery plan can handle up to 3,000 IOPS, higher paid plans up to 20,000 IOPS.

An independant benchmark substantiated by benchANT shows that it offers the best value for performance than other hyperscalers document-oriented DBaaS offers.

You can choose any of the OVHcloud datacentres — in France, United Kingdom, Germany, Poland and Canada (coming soon to the United States, Singapore, India and Australia) to host the service. This is an option that allows you to offer your service as close as possible to your app’s users.

Furthermore, automatic backup in a remote datacentre is included in the Production and Advanced plans, with one snapshot per day stored for a 14-day rolling period and a Point in Time Recovery (PITR) with a 30-day retention period, respectively.

Lastly, please note that the Discovery and Production solutions are based on the MongoDB Community version, meaning 100% compatible and ensuring optimal portability for your MongoDB services. It’s not the case for instance with AWS DocumentDB and Azure CosmosDB that uses proprietary software not fully compatible with original MongoDB APIs. The Advanced solutions are based on the Enterprise version, licensed from MongoDB.

Let OVHcloud manage the scaling of your MongoDB cluster

Anyone who has ever used MongoDB knows that as a database cluster grows, the question of how many machines you should have and how to size them always arises. As recommended by the publisher, the machines in the same MongoDB cluster should be configured the same way. Otherwise, the cluster’s performance would match that of the weakest machine in the pool, or worse, lead to more serious machine failures.

These are some of the pitfalls you will be avoiding by allowing OVHcloud to manage your database. With the Production solution, you get a 3-node replica set, which you can scale (vertical scaling) up to 4 TB storage, 60 GB RAM and 16 vCPU, to suit your core needs and optimise costs. You no longer need to over-dimension your cluster, provision machines, or manage their obsolescence. Furthermore, you can automate Database Management Systems (DBMS) using Terraform. You can be billed per use, allowing you to optimally provision resources to match your workloads.

Enhanced security

Another advantage of outsourcing the hosting and management of MongoDB to an expert like OVHcloud is that you can ensure enhanced security. The hardening, updates and security of the DBMS hosting will no longer be a source of concern, when common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVE) are detected. And also, updates and patches are applied as soon as they become available. This is done using a rolling update procedure that minimises service downtime, in coordination with customers.

Managed Databases for MongoDB can also be interconnected with your other OVHcloud services via the vRack private network, wherever they are located. This is to avoid exposing your databases on the public network. Please note that traffic and private network charges are included.

Lastly, you benefit from the anti-DDoS and data encryption technologies offered by OVHcloud, as well as ISO/IEC 27001, 27017, 27018 and 27701 certifications; and the  HDS (hébergement de données de santé) certification in France. Your databases are compliant with healthcare data hosting standards in many countries.

Monitoring and support on the OVHcloud Control Panel

There are several solutions available. Especially via command-line tools and thick user interface clients. Much easier for monitoring your MongoDB cluster, which are provided by the publisher, or the community. However, you can always opt for simplicity, and monitor your data using features available on the OVHcloud Control Panel.

You will find, via the Control Panel, your database usage metrics consisting of number of read and write requests, number of clients using it, etc.. and CPU and RAM resources. This helps you to determine whether your cluster is the right size, i.e., if it’s too large or not enough. You can entrust OVHcloud with ensuring availability and alert processing — we will handle it for you and vouch for it. If the monitoring tools above offer you more indicators, the one provided by OVHcloud offers much more. It provides you with both real-time and historical data to compare with other time periods.

OVHcloud’s offerings including support provided by solution architects within the OVHcloud Professional Services team, working together with MongoDB Inc. teams to help you meet all your advanced needs, as well as different levels of 24/7 support plans.

Check the quick-start guide and login with your OVHcloud account to try your always-free MongoDB Discovery cluster !