How We Work at IPXO: Learning, Innovating & Growing Together 

When we began building IPXO, a fully automated IP address lease and monetization platform, we chose the path of discovery and innovation. As we continue to improve our work at IPXO and turn our weaknesses into strengths, we discover new things to learn and new hurdles to conquer.  

We strongly believe in our mission to help alleviate the global shortage of Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) addresses. We develop our services and products without chasing trends or clinging to traditional technologies. Instead, we choose to innovate and create our own journey.  

Working at IPXO: Focus on the journey, not the destination

At IPXO, our organizational structure is flat without many levels within the hierarchical structure. Although there are six C-level executives and eight team leads, communication is informal. Thus, from the outside, it may be difficult to tell the difference between the roles. 

According to Deimantė Blagnienė, our Chief People & Culture Officer, the current size of IPXO is our strength because we can enjoy easy communication and more openness. Everyone knows each other by their first name.  

How are things organized at IPXO?

The CTO organization represents the bigger part of IPXO. According to Vaidotas Januška, Chief Technology Officer, the CTO organization ensures that IPXO has a good development pace to deliver on promises, a rock-solid platform foundation to run its apps and a dedicated engineering focus to make sure we are ready for the future. 

The CTO organization is supported by product owners, developers, platform and staff engineers. To keep an eye on security, we also have a dedicated CISO team.

The CTO organization has adopted an agile product delivery methodology with bi-weekly sprints to ensure a stable pace and the ability to adjust to newly emerging priorities or challenges. Our product owners make sure developers are busy with endless backlogs and challenging tasks. 

How it all plays out

According to Januška, to keep the processes under control, his team adopted CI/CD pipelines that give them the ability to stage code from a staging environment to production once it is fully tested. The codebase is subject to code analysis tools too. This ensures that the team knows where it is and where it needs to be. 

All that code needs to run somewhere. This is where the Platform team kicks in. Januška shares: “We are fully into the cloud-native mode, with GitOps as our way to manage and maintain the platform. We also have a centralized logging and monitoring stack that gives us the foundation to adopt observability practices and be in better control of our estate’s health.”

With all infrastructure defined as a code, we ensure that needed compliance and security are in place. Moreover, we can scale when necessary and be on top of our availability on service level agreements (SLAs). 

All of this must be aligned with a strategic view as platform capabilities and application needs must go hand in hand so that we would not hit any roadblocks. Productive communication and collaboration between teams involved are also crucial. That is the role of our staff engineers – to make sure we are aligned and have a clear direction.

“The roles of our staff engineers cover the core parts of the CTO organization: product, platform and security. Our latest joint focus across all teams includes the selection of the API management platform. Experts know that it is a combination of platform, development and security requirements that must be met and aligned. Therefore, our journey continues, and we are committed to our joint success,” shared Januška. 

The philosophy behind the product: Long-term leasing and lasting partnerships

When it comes to strategy-based goals, the aim of our Product Management team is to build an axis around which everything rotates smoothly. IP lease and monetization are the keys to implementing IPXO’s mission and vision. 

Usually, companies that need IPv4s must write business plans, wait in queues and, eventually, spend a ton of money. At IPXO, we believe that IPv4 addresses should be accessible to all.

“Even if IPs are needed for a minor, individual project, we encourage to lease them. We offer reduced complexity, increased speed in getting the assets, and neutrality regarding networks. Moreover, even though our company is the largest marketplace of leasable IPs, we do not have unified management and are governed by the online community instead,” shares Bakanas. 

In some cases, it can be difficult to trust online IP sellers – companies or individuals – because their credibility cannot be checked. Moreover, there are plenty of security issues within the market. Undeniably, credibility is crucial to the success of our product. 

Strategic goals are closely related to the user journey

“We focus on the challenges that arise in the market, gather feedback from the clients and determine the scale of each problem. Every quarter, we decide what features we are going to develop, and twice per year, we reformulate strategic goals. Therefore, our product is always changing and adapting,” stated Bakanas. 

The long-term goal at IPXO is to exemplify that leasing IP resources can be a long-lasting investment. Not just for a month or two, but for years. Moreover, we are a credible long-term partner for businesses in various industries that know we look after them and carry out obligations. Not only do we manage contracts of IP holders but also provide activity insurance to refund expenses if need be. 

We believe in what we do, we are serious about our mission and the qualities of our services. Without a doubt, sustainability is at the forefront of our operations and links all the cornerstones of our product: availability, openness and credibility. 

Three teams accompany the client

Depending on the needs of our customers, our Account Management, Product Support and Abuse Prevention teams ensure a smooth and unique user journey. 

According to Karolis Jonikas, our Account Manager, the Account Management team maps the growth of the IPXO client base and handles the overall communication. The team works closely with the Sales department to provide enough IP addresses to supply the demand. Unsurprisingly, the connection our clients develop with the account managers is valuable for both sides as it brings growth opportunities. 

The Product Support team greets every new IPXO client. The team is highly efficient, and it takes no time at all for new users to start enjoying the platform. 

According to Andrius Kleinas, IPXO’s Chief Operating Officer, the Product Support team is responsible for 24/7 communication, which covers technical issues, product questions and commercial queries. The department faces our B2B clients directly and keeps the pulse of all the good and the bad, which makes its role within the organization crucial. 

As Kleinas points out, the IPXO Marketplace is still evolving. There is still so much to discover, but with every new client, the product grows, and the market develops. With every new day, we understand our clients better and continue to introduce changes to make our platform a top-notch service globally. 

The journey continues

A few key values stand out at IPXO: growth, trust and ownership. These values permeate across teams, the entire organization and the product itself. We have full freedom to explore, and we do so through testing and learning.

At IPXO, we are used to teaching and being taught by asking one essential question: Is there anything I can do to help? We bring the same question to our clients, whose valuable experiences help us grow and develop the Marketplace.

Do our business values match your values? Book a demo to learn more about the benefits of the IPXO platform. Are you interested in joining like-minded people who are actively building a more sustainable internet? Join the team!