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Accelerating the User Experience for China’s Largest Online Retail Site
Technology Category
- Functional Applications - Remote Monitoring & Control Systems
- Networks & Connectivity - Network Management & Analysis Software
- Networks & Connectivity - Routers & Bridges
Applicable Industries
- E-Commerce
- Software
Applicable Functions
- Business Operation
- Sales & Marketing
Use Cases
- Remote Asset Management
- Remote Control
Services
- Software Design & Engineering Services
- System Integration
The Challenge
Taobao, the largest Internet retail and trading website in China, faced significant challenges in handling the rapidly increasing load on its data center and CDN sites. The old systems in their data centers could not provide the required high performance at Layer 7, leading to instability and inefficiency. With nearly 100 million registered users and growing, the data center traffic was taxing on the network and application servers. Taobao needed a solution that could handle the increasing load on Layer 4 services in the data center and provide better Layer 7 performance to accommodate the demands on the CDN and its nodes. The primary challenge was to ensure that the site remained available for users while managing traffic surges and volume growth effectively.
About The Customer
Launched in 2003, Taobao, owned by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., is the largest Internet retail and trading website in China. It services nearly 100 million registered users and hosts more than 1.5 million sellers offering a comprehensive range of products. As the primary online shopping destination for the largest online population in the world, Taobao reached an annual transaction volume of almost $15 billion in 2008, equating to approximately one percent of China’s total retail trade. Taobao’s operations are supported by over 10,000 servers concentrated in a handful of data centers, along with many content delivery network (CDN) sites. The data centers support web browsing and e-commerce transactions for Taobao’s users, ensuring a seamless shopping experience.
The Solution
To address the challenges, Taobao evaluated various load balancing options and decided to transition to the A10 ADC platform. They initially purchased and deployed more than 30 units of the most advanced A10 ADC platform along with 6 mid-range units. The A10 ADCs include Flexible Traffic ASICs, which move functions into the hardware for the highest performance, freeing the main CPUs for advanced processing. In the data centers, the A10 ADC performs core Layer 4 server load balancing and reliability services such as session synchronization with High Availability and DDoS protection. In the CDN sites, the A10 ADC delivers Layer 7 server load balancing and application acceleration services such as connection reuse and URL-hashing to ensure the fastest user experience. The key deciding factors for Taobao to upgrade to the A10 ADC were higher performance at Layer 4 and Layer 7, better value for money, and superior stability. A10 ADCs’ industry-leading performance allowed Taobao to install two systems for every four they had deployed in the past, translating to a 2:1 data center consolidation ratio and equivalent operational efficiency. Additionally, A10 provided outstanding technical support and services that ensured rapid deployment into Taobao’s data centers and CDN.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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