Cloud spend management and the rising popularity of the FinOps approach may feel like a hot new trend, but the practice itself has been around for years – well over a decade. Given this history, FinOps solution providers should be able to demonstrate mature technologies with years of success in reducing cloud costs. For example, Tangoe pioneered technology expense management more than 20 years ago and has been patenting AI-based cloud spend management capabilities since early 2014.
Patents are the mark of cloud spend management innovation, and it’s here where Tangoe is an industry leader with new ideas and exclusive rights to solutions for saving money in the cloud. For nearly a decade, Tangoe has been using patented AI capabilities to innovate cloud spend optimization, going deep into industry-unique ways to:
- Gather and categorize cloud service usage data for analysis
- Evaluate and predict cloud usage, using machine learning for cost-management analysis
- Identify the most cost-effective services using contextual intelligence based on historical usage data
Let’s take a closer look at how Tangoe’s patents benefit our clients.
Tangoe’s AI-Based Cloud Patents: What They Do for Clients
To be precise, Tangoe has been granted 14 AI-based cloud patents, some new and some of which date back almost 10 years. And, by the way, that count excludes:
- 4 pending AI cloud patents already filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
- 55+ additional granted patents applicable to broader technology expense management, many of which are applicable to our cloud expense management solution (All of Tangoe’s patents can be found here.)
- Still other AI cloud patents we’re actively preparing to file with the USPTO
Our 14 patents can be summarized into two specific families and one superpower, called the Cloud Optimizer. Here’s how they deliver tangible value.
Patent Family 1: Extracting, Classifying, and Reporting on Cloud Usage Data
These patents use AI advanced analytics and give Tangoe exclusive rights around cloud service usage data and the ways in which it can be used for cost analysis and cost allocation.
Here’s how they work: This patent family includes ways of gathering resource usage data for analysis such that particular data transactions and usage information can be classified based on purpose and/or type. Further, the systems and methods provide reporting based on the amount of usage and/or purpose or type of usage so that associated costs and usage can be calculated, applied and allocated to particular accounts, divisions, groups or individuals.
Patent Family 2: Reporting and Applying Restrictions based on Applications and More
This is how Tangoe leverages advanced analytics to filter mountains of data down to the meaningful datasets our clients’ need for cost analysis based on their software applications and other unique business requirements.
Here’s how they work: This patent family covers reporting on the amount of usage and/or purpose or type of usage and can also apply restrictions to the data usage of applications and devices based on set limits that can be application- and purpose-specific.
Patented Superpower: Cloud Optimizer
Simply put, our Cloud Optimizer patent is how Tangoe uses machine learning and predictive analytics to cross compare multiple Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) solutions and find the lowest-price provider that best matches our clients’ application and bandwidth needs both today and tomorrow. When cloud application performance is critical, we have a patented superpower showing you which IaaS service will give you the best bang for your buck given the demands of your current workload and your predicted needs.
Here’s how it works: This patent family is tailored to finding the optimal service provider for an application running in the cloud based on the cloud provider’s billing models and the application resource usage profiles. It is able to map patterns of usage and uses AI to predict future usage as applications scale and evolve.
And there’s no end in sight. The cloud cost management market is rapidly evolving, and we anticipate another two or three patents to be issued as soon as this year.
Tangoe is the Cloud Optimizer
Technology expense management is a practice with decades of rich history that can be applied to cloud computing for the most advanced techniques in optimizing costs. As a pioneer in the industry, Tangoe has secured AI-based cloud spend management patents since 2014, predating recent cloud governance trends as well as many of the startups and new entrants advertising FinOps offerings.
Patents are a key differentiator and a sign of innovation.
Tangoe’s patented AI capabilities forge cloud spend management ahead with contextualized insights no other provider can offer. The 2016 Cloud Optimizer patent is a standout achievement, showcasing our foresight using advanced analytics to match client requirements with the most economically viable IaaS provider. In essence, Tangoe’s patents exemplify our visionary approach to the cloud, positioning our company at the forefront of cost-saving solutions.
Explore more of how AI powers Tangoe’s IaaS, SaaS, and UCaaS cost optimization engines.
Get the complete guide to FinOps and AI.