How Vonage is using Dapr to secure and modernize their tech stack saving 1000+ development hours

Vonage is a global provider of cloud-based communication tools for businesses, providing APIs for network, messaging, voice, and video, contact centers, and conversational commerce solutions.

Challenge

Vonage operates with a substantial existing codebase across more than 100 core services. The organization faced the difficulty of introducing new functionality, security features, and experimental tools without requiring a complete rewrite of the stack or disrupting operational momentum. The team needed a non-intrusive approach to modernization that would preserve the existing infrastructure while enabling innovation.

Solution

Vonage selected a sidecar pattern implementation capable of operating uniformly across different programming languages, deployment environments, and technical architectures. The organization evaluated solutions based on implementation speed, lifecycle handling, robustness, and extensibility.

Dapr emerged as the optimal solution for both new and legacy systems, whether written in Java, .NET, Golang, or JavaScript, and whether running on metal, VMs, Nomad, or Kubernetes. The implementation standardized tracing, authentication/authorization, and resilient service-to-service communication.

The team successfully migrated legacy systems with unique authentication mechanisms to modern security patterns using OIDC. This allowed them to intercept calls, manage authentication and authorization, and translate requests to legacy requirements using declarative mechanisms.

Impact

• Vonage can now rapidly secure and modernize stacks while responding to regulatory and compliance requirements
• The organization can extend commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products to their standards without sacrificing security or controls
• Developers leverage Dapr's architecture to continuously add features across all stacks and solutions
• Saved 1000+ development hours through accelerated modernization efforts

The full case study is available on the CNCF website.