AgeChecker.Net: Scaling age verification with secure and flexible cloud infrastructure

Google cloud results

Unlocked flexible, scalable infrastructure to better handle increases in demand
Automated compliance to withstand constantly changing industry regulations and provide seamless customer experience
Strengthened security posture with built-in security features in Google Cloud
Reduced manual tasks and improved accuracy of age verification with AI and automation capabilities
Significantly reduced cloud infrastructure management costs by consolidating on Google Cloud

AgeChecker.Net chose Google Cloud's scalable infrastructure, security features, and AI capabilities to simplify age verification processes, ensuring compliance and improving customer experience while reducing costs.

The ecommerce boom has reshaped the retail landscape, with experts predicting 41% of global sales will occur online by 2027. This surge in online shopping extends to age-restricted products like alcohol, tobacco, and CBD, creating a critical need for age verification solutions. AgeChecker.Net has positioned itself at the forefront of this growing market, carving out its place within the $4.8 trillion ecommerce industry.

The company offers age verification solutions to enable customers to provide an easy checkout experience while complying with regulations in their region and industry. Its system integrates with any site, stays up to date with changing restrictions, and instantly verifies consumers through its extensive database of trusted records and intelligent matching technology.

As a business that runs 24/7 to serve shoppers around the world, AgeChecker.Net needs reliable infrastructure to deliver the uptime, security, and customization its customers require. However, the company ran on a single bare metal server that couldn’t scale to meet consumer demand or keep up with rapid growth in a constantly changing legal landscape. Turning to Google Cloud due to its brand reputation, low latency, and global availability, AgeChecker.Net began to roll out integrated solutions to unify all its business processes.

We no longer wanted dedicated hosting solutions that couldn’t meet our uptime, security, reliability, and compliance needs. We wanted a trusted cloud partner that was reliable, offered hands-on customer support, and had a variety of APIs that would help us scale quickly.

Matt Fields

Vice President, AgeChecker.Net

Embracing scalability and flexibility in the cloud

AgeChecker.Net’s previous infrastructure required too much configuration and maintenance for its team to manage. “I couldn’t sleep at night. We had to constantly monitor the server to make sure everything was secure and up to date,” says Matt Fields, Vice President at AgeChecker.Net. “Even though we were paying for a managed service, the support was limited and it quickly became too much.”

On top of costly management fees, AgeChecker.Net also had to pay for ongoing updates and maintenance for its physical servers, which wasn’t sustainable or scalable. During peak retail periods like Black Friday and the holidays, the team had to manually build servers to handle demand and would then be left with obsolete equipment.

Now, AgeChecker.Net uses Google Kubernetes Engine to securely run workloads at scale, enabling the team to spin up its environment on Compute Engine virtual machines as needed, and Cloud SQL to manage its databases with automated backups, replications, patches, and encryption. The team can also increase its Cloud Storage capacity as the company grows without disrupting business operations.

“I don’t know what we would’ve done if we hadn’t switched to Google Cloud infrastructure,” Fields says. “Instead of upgrading all our equipment for key retail moments, we can pay for increased usage and then switch it off the next day. It’s fast and it saves us a lot of money.”

As for securing its new infrastructure, AgeChecker.Net relies on Cloud Armor, a robust web application firewall that safeguards user data, like driver’s license details, from malicious attacks. Meanwhile, Cloud IDS provides continuous traffic monitoring, proactively identifying and alerting AgeChecker.Net to potential security threats.

AgeChecker.Net must also adhere to strict data retention policies. Using Memorystore for Redis, a high-performance in-memory data store, the team can securely tokenize sensitive data, enhancing security and facilitating faster data processing and retrieval. This process allows AgeChecker.Net to efficiently segregate applications across different servers while still maintaining synchronized live data for seamless operation.

Agile solutions for long-term growth

Aside from creating a secure, scalable foundation for AgeChecker.Net’s solutions, Google Cloud also supports seamless integration of new services and products. Previously, it could take months to research, plan, and negotiate contracts with third-party vendors. Now, the team can view all available APIs and deploy them in one click.

For example, to ensure compliance with diverse state, city, and federal regulations, AgeChecker.Net uses the Geocoding API. This tool enables businesses to verify the accuracy of customer billing and shipping information, ensuring that customers reside within designated geographic areas where specific age restrictions apply. By cross-referencing addresses with geocoded data, AgeChecker.Net effectively prevents customers from circumventing regulations through the use of false or misleading information, promoting compliance and mitigating risks.

“When the state of California implemented new restrictions on the sale of hemp products, we used the Geocoding API to instantly update our system and keep our customers in compliance,” Fields explains. “This solution empowers us to navigate a complex regulatory landscape and provide more reliable solutions to our customers.”

We don’t look at Google Cloud as a service anymore. We look at them as a partner to help grow our business today and in the future.

Matt Fields

Vice President, AgeChecker.Net

Building an AI-powered future

AgeChecker.Net is now exploring AI-powered solutions from Google Cloud, such as Document AI, to automate and improve data extraction from unstructured customer information. Previously, many shoppers would upload low-quality images of their driver’s licenses, which required time-consuming manual intervention from customer support teams to verify their identities. With image enhancement and automation capabilities in Document AI, AgeChecker.Net has reduced verification time from minutes to seconds, saving hundreds of hours and improving customer satisfaction.

Next, AgeChecker.Net plans to further leverage Vertex AI to streamline customer support, refine verification processes, and bolster fraud detection capabilities. This will help the company enhance operational efficiency and provide an even better customer experience.

"Before Google Cloud, we didn’t realize how much time we were wasting on manual server management and admin processes,” Fields says. “Investing in Google Cloud gives us access to valuable shortcuts, giving us time to focus on more critical tasks. Updates, installs, configurations—it’s all just a click away.”

Google Cloud has been instrumental in our growth over the years. Its comprehensive suite of tools and services has allowed us to expand our product while improving its security and reliability.

Nick Jabbour

Senior Software Engineer, AgeChecker.Net

AgeChecker.Net migrated to Google Cloud to streamline its age verification processes, enhance efficiency, and ensure compliance with industry regulations. With Google Cloud AI, data management, and infrastructure solutions, the company has positioned itself as a leading provider of age verification services in the ecommerce market.

Industry: Technology

Location: United States

Products: Google Kubernetes Engine, Compute Engine, Cloud IDS, Cloud SQL, Cloud Storage, Document AI, Geocoding API, Memorystore, Vertex AI