Cloud-Based Event Check-In Fails Under Crowd Pressure, Edge Solution Implemented

A cloud-first architecture for event check-ins failed during a large-scale event in Riyadh when 8,000 attendees arrived simultaneously. Network latency soared, causing system timeouts and halting physical gate operations. The failure was attributed to the system's dependence on remote network calls, which could not handle the burst concurrency. The team redesigned the system to use local edge nodes, ensuring admission decisions happen on-site in under 10 milliseconds. This edge-first alternative employs SQLite in Write-Ahead Logging mode to manage high-throughput transactions locally before syncing with the cloud.