--- title: "Permit.io | Case studies | SurrealDB" description: "Learn how Permit.io uses SurrealDB for graph-powered permissions in the AI era, achieving increased scalability and reduced latency for authorisation." url: https://surrealdb.com/customer/permitio --- ![Graph-powered permissions for the AI era logo](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/2a1672777bb8c03f.C4InQn6p.svg) # Graph-powered permissions for the AI era Permit.io replaced an in-memory graph engine with SurrealDB to scale authorisation beyond tens of millions of relationships, delivering the fastest Zanzibar-influenced ReBAC solution in the market. Industry Technology Outcome Graph-powered platform with increased scalability, flexible deployment options, and reduced latency and complexity 1. ![Babcock](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/babcock.lo4rnVg1.svg) 2. ![ING](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/ing.X3I6S3_V.svg) 3. ![British Airways](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/british-airways.KEsZiwV-.svg) 4. ![Nvidia](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/nvidia.DaIEuMil.svg) 5. ![Apple](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/apple.D5pq4flY.svg) 6. ![SpaceX](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/spacex.CQJEk-IL.svg) 7. ![Samsung](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/samsung.CH-vQgnb.svg) 8. ![adidas](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/adidas.DdTC5qhk.svg) 9. ![Tencent](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/tencent.paQmLxyy.svg) 10. ![Alibaba](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/alibaba.B16idgfM.svg) 11. ![PolyAI](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/poly-ai.c3w_fAg6.svg) 12. ![Later](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/later.Ds736jFO.svg) 13. ![Verizon](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/verizon.BI7CajdX.svg) 14. ![Liberty Mutual](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/liberty-mutual.B7qOU1pd.svg) 15. ![Walmart](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/walmart.BjDg_Sr8.svg) 16. ![Carrier](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/carrier.D21gC6NX.svg) 17. ![Saks Fifth Avenue](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/saks-fifth-avenue.COIDpLSb.svg) 18. ![San Francisco Compute Company](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/sfcc.B7jlImq4.svg) 19. ![Shield AI](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/shield-ai.pINZ0KJr.svg) 20. ![Wix](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/wix.DvHhmoBi.svg) 01 |KEY CHALLENGES ## What they needed to solve The technical and operational hurdles the team faced before adopting SurrealDB. ### In-memory scaling limits The internally developed in-memory graph engine for OPA constrained scaling past tens of millions of relationships. ### Enterprise-scale identity graphs Customers pushing 10M-100M identities hit hard technical ceilings with the existing architecture. ### Multi-environment deployment Needed a solution that could run in multi-tenant cloud, on-premises in regulated industries, and hybrid models. ### Complex recursive queries Policy enforcement required traversing vast identity and policy graphs across users, organisations, projects, and resources. 02 |SOLUTIONS ## How SurrealDB helped The architecture decisions and SurrealDB capabilities that addressed each challenge. ### Graph-native query engine SurrealDB's graph-native queries broke through in-memory limitations, enabling authorisation workloads at enterprise scale. ### Multi-tenant isolation Namespaces and databases enable data isolation for thousands of customers while maintaining performance and security. ### Embeddable Rust deployment SurrealDB embeds directly into Rust services, enabling lightweight PDPs at the edge with centralised policy storage. ### Recursive graph traversal SurrealQL executes recursive queries across users, organisations, projects, environments, and resources in milliseconds. 03 |RESULTS ## The impact Measurable outcomes delivered after moving to SurrealDB. 9,999+ ### Fastest ReBAC solution Created the fastest and most comprehensive Google Zanzibar-influenced relationship-based access control in the market. 100M+ IDENTITIES ### Enterprise identity scale Resolves permissions across tens of thousands of folders and millions of files in a single query. 3 ENVIRONMENTS ### Flexible deployment Same solution ships across cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments with minimal re-architecture. 1 SERVICE ### Centralised PDP Building a unified policy enforcement service powered by SurrealDB for hybrid cloud and edge deployments. MORE CASE STUDIES ## See what other teams have shipped From knowledge graphs to AI assistants - how enterprise teams are building on SurrealDB. ![Samsung](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/4c58b81e7b3c9466.C_Hv0eml.svg) DATABASE ### [Unlocking insights with knowledge graphs](https://surrealdb.com/customer/samsung) Samsung Ads uses SurrealDB to build dynamic, real-time knowledge graphs for smarter campaign execution - collapsing three legacy data stores into one. Read case study ![Verizon](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/18b99996c689000f.B5PQ-nI9.svg) DATABASE ### [AI assistant empowering 10,000 technicians](https://surrealdb.com/customer/verizon) Verizon uses SurrealDB to power a generative AI assistant for 10,000 field technicians, delivering instant access to documentation, outage updates, and workflows. Read case study ![Tencent](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/401d8346058682c8.DqM87mst.svg) DATABASE ### [Unified infrastructure monitoring](https://surrealdb.com/customer/tencent) Tencent consolidated nine backend tools into one real-time monitoring platform powered by SurrealDB's multi-model context graph. Read case study ![PolyAI](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/c5fa07c66cd05131.BnC7wHcc.svg) DATABASE ### [High-performance customer service AI powered by RAG](https://surrealdb.com/customer/polyai) PolyAI connects SurrealDB to Agent Studio for low-latency, customer-controlled RAG across voice AI experiences. Read case study ![Saks Fifth Avenue](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/saks-fifth-avenue-white.pDJ9HGmf.svg) DATABASE ### [AI-powered personalisation at massive scale](https://surrealdb.com/customer/saks) Saks Fifth Avenue uses SurrealDB's vector search and graph capabilities to deliver real-time, AI-powered personalisation across 5 million luxury customers and 45 million monthly product-recommendation queries. Read case study GET STARTED ## Start building with SurrealDB The unified data layer for AI. Unify data. Unlock intelligence. Scale anywhere. ![Samsung](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/4c58b81e7b3c9466.C_Hv0eml.svg)![NVIDIA](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/nvidia.DaIEuMil.svg)![Apple](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/f7dc2519e0d212bc.Cn8MYAK7.svg)![Verizon](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/18b99996c689000f.B5PQ-nI9.svg)![Tencent](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/401d8346058682c8.DqM87mst.svg) SOC 2 Type 2 GDPR Cyber Essentials Plus ISO 27001 [Start for free](https://studio.surrealdb.com/current/instances/deploy) [Contact us](https://surrealdb.com/contact) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization","name":"SurrealDB","url":"https://surrealdb.com","logo":"https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/logo.BG7_TG2b.svg","description":"SurrealDB is the unified data layer for AI. 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